His Backstory (Updated Version)
by MiraLake
Summary: "The real dragons…are strong, noble…" the annoying bloodied pink-haired fire dragonslayer coughed out. "And gentle." But to Acnologia's ears. That's just bullshit. Fucking bullshit. To him, Natsu had no right to say what 'real' dragons are. Because he already experienced what it's like to live in a world full of dragons. They took his everything. His family, his friends, his life.
1. 400 years ago

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all of its characters, plot, and locations belong to Hiro Mashima. The only thing I own is this fanfiction. Enjoy!**

 **Hi everyone! I heavily revised the beginning part of my fanfiction because I feel like this gives a better introduction for Acnologia's backstory. I emphasized more on his feelings through his point of view during the last fight he had with Natsu in the final chapters of Fairy Tail. Honestly, my own heart was racing while reading those scenes containing the two of them talking about their opinions of dragons.**

 **It just got me motivated to continue writing this fanfiction. There's not enough light on Acnologia's character and he deserves so much more! I can't let him go down with Fairy Tail's reputation!**

 **So I'm going to try and attempt a story that gives more insight into Acnologia's past. A story that is the complete opposite of the stories of the main characters of Fairy Tail. A story where the power of nakama doesn't always work.**

 **No, my friend. In the world of the dragon apocalypse from 400 years, only the strong will survive.**

 **So without further ado, let me commence this story. And please FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW if you enjoyed!**

* * *

 **Ch. 1: Over 400 years ago, dragons were the dominant species of the world**

"The real dragons…are strong, noble…" the annoying bloodied pink-haired fire dragonslayer coughed out.

"And gentle."

I felt my blood race through my veins and my head about to explode. How dare he! My fists scrunched up so tight that I felt my own nails cut into my hands and blood gently trickle through my knuckles.

 _Gentle…_

 _Gentle…_

 _Gentle…_

 _That's bullshit. That's so FUCKING BULLSHIT!_

It took every ounce of willpower in me to not run forward and tear a gaping hole right through that fire dragonslayer's abdomen! He had no right to say what 'real' dragons are. Absolutely no right.

Natsu Dragneel.

He only ever got close to one dragon. And that was his father figure and mentor, Igneel. Same thing with all those other so-called dragonslayers lying injured and barely concious before me. They never slayed a single dragon nor have they met dragons other than their own mentors!

I met dragons.

'Real' dragons. Bad dragons. But good ones as well.

Yes, I met good dragons too.

After all, I was a dragonslayer. My skills and magic were taught by other dragons. Good dragons, whom I once greatly cared for and admired. But just because those dragons were good, didn't erase all the injustice and pain and deaths caused by the bad dragons during my life growing up.

The dragon apocalpyse from 400 years ago.

A forgotten page in history. Which is actually a good thing, because no one deserves to ever know the existence of such a cruel period in human history.

My voice came out like a demon from the pits of hell.

"Gentle? Dragons?"

Images flashed through my mind. Images of all the terrors I went through from my childhood and youth. Horrible images of bad memories that still haunt me to this day.

"The ones who devoured my family?"

An image of a screaming woman flashed through my mind, she was desperately clawing against the ground to get out of the grip of the giant unseen dragon behind her. But was too weak to fight back and was pulled into the dragon's jaws.

"The dragons who took everything from me…are 'gentle?'"

I was at my limit by now. I couldn't think rationally. Forget about sticking to my plan on eradicating all the dragons. At this point, I might just tear apart this fucking pink-haired prick into pieces!

Limb by limb…just like how the dragons back then liked to eat us.

 _Natsu Dragneel…you have no idea…no idea…_

 _You have it so easy Natsu. Yeah, you may have lost Igneel, your brother, and your entire family. but at least your family wasn't taken away from right before your eyes without your consent._

 _At least you didn't have to sleep every night with a knife under your rock pillow, waking up every minute to make sure you're still alive and breathing. At least your life has worked out so you have happy endings at the end of your every journey._

 _At least you have friends by your side to keep your hopes it. To make your life worth living._

 _Everyone I ever cared about…_

 _IS DEAD!_

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, NATSU DRAGNEEL!" I screamed internally.

"NOTHING!"

* * *

 _400 years ago._

Dragons were the dominant species of the world thousands of years and continued on for several generations. Nobody knew where they came from, or why they came here. They just knew that this was literally, the apocalypse.

But this piece of history dates back such a long time ago that there were barely any records about that time. That's why so little people know about the dragon apocalypse that happened long before the birth of Zeref.

The descendants of survivors from the apocalypse don't know about it either, because their ancestors most likely didn't dare pass the story down the family line.

And so the only person who knows about the truth as to what happened during that time of darkness and terror, is none other than the Dragon King himself.

And his story begins when the age of the Dragons was coming to its end. More than 400 years ago...

* * *

 _Marshes Area, Ishgar. Year x48 BZ_

The pregnant young woman, Rei fell to her knees as another jolt of pain hit her body like lightning. But this time, it was strong enough to make her yell. Several members of the survival group she was in rushed to her side.

Covering her mouth without suffocating her, and frantically looking around in the sky to ensure the sound of her scream didn't attract any unwanted attention.

More specifically attention from the dragons.

The chief turned around and gestured for all of them to keep on moving. Surviving out in the open is all about moving from place to place. Staying in one area for too long will attract dragons. Which means certain death.

"Rei! I know it hurts, but you're gonna have to be quieter!" the chief insisted.

The woman beside Rei, helped her walk at a steady, but faster than normal pace.

"Come on. You're just gonna have to hold it in a little while longer. We'll get you someplace good."

Rei looked ahead, the thick vegetation of the swamp begins to clear out and reveal a large open area, still filled with ankle deep water. But it was an open area.

And open areas means that if anything comes from above, there's no place to hide. Which means they're gonna have to make a run for it when crossing.

The chief looked around and sniffed the air for the scent of dragons. Five other men did the same, each one focusing on a certain direction.

"Alright, let's hustle!" the chief cried.

A split second later, all twelve or fifteen people of the group bolted off in a sprint across the open marsh. Carefully adjusting their weight as to not make any sounds when their feet moves across the water.

Rei lagged behind a little, but had a small group of five people protectively bodyguarding around her. It wasn't because they were her friends or anything. But because of the fact that she was pregnant.

"Uh!" Rei's cramps worsened halfway across the marsh and fell over.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She cried out in pain.

"Aahhhmmmmmmmm!" Her mouth was muffled almost immediately, but it didn't decrease the volume.

Combined with the fact that her water broke, the group was more than vulnerable now for an attack. And they were right.

A few seconds later, they heard the sound of trees rustling and wings flapping through the air. Two dragons, a large red one with a spiky head, and a slim grey one, appeared from behind the horizon.

The chief, who was coming over to help the lagging survivors, immediately turned around and pointed to the roots of the water-bearing trees just a few metres ahead.

"Get to the trees!" He commanded.

Everyone began screaming and running in panic. Only three people stayed right by Rei and helped her through the marshes. Eventually the man who was with her, lifted her up and began running, catching up the rest of the group easily.

Rei nearly passed out from the pain combined with the intensity of the situation right now. As her head drooped from side to side, she saw blood everywhere.

The red dragon pounced on a man when he tried to dive underneath a log, flattening him to a pancake. Right after that, he impaled another man who accidentally ran towards him, with one of his claws.

The grey dragon picked up anyone who lagged behind or stopped to catch their breath. A young man of the group barely dodged the grey dragon and increased his speed, pushing past the man carrying Rei, causing him to stumble and drop her.

As soon as he did, the grey dragon grabbed the fallen man with its powerful jaws and cut him in half with its teeth.

Rei was immediately picked up by the other man who was with her and continued running towards the trees. By now, the two dragons had had their time, and began disputing with one another over how to divide their kills.

The chief and remaining survivors were underneath the roots of the water-bearing trees, catching their breaths, when Rei, her carrier, and the woman who was with her arrived.

There were about ten people still alive currently.

The chief did a quick calculation in his head. "Alright then, I guess that means each person gets a little more to eat each week."

"Uh! Aaahhh!" Rei cried.

It really did hurt. How on earth did the other women handle this? During this time, it was common for woman to give birth to more than one child during their fertility stage. And for men to have several female companions without having a real actual relationship with her.

The world was decreasing in the human population thanks the dragons. In fact, everything was decreasing thanks to the dragons. From the people, the hunted animals, to large mountains, and even ethernano!

Dragons required a large amount of ethernano because they were so strong in magic. However that meant horrifying consequences for the human wizards, who existed long before the start of the apocalypse.

Those wizards are almost extinct by now, due to magic-deficiency disease. There wasn't enough ethernano in the air for both them and the dragons to share.

The dragons were nightmares. The very essence of fear and anger inside of each person. There was no way for stopping this cycle of hell on earth.

Rei grew up learning the basics of survival and how this world works. And now, she's going to give birth to the next generation of survivors. And eventually, humanity would become strong again if they teach their children properly.

Perhaps even retake the world that once belonged to them.

"Alpha! Help me!" Rei begged.

The woman, Alpha, helped Rei lean against the sides of the giant roots and breathe. She turned to give commands to several other men.

"Rip off some of your clothes and give them to Rei, her baby's gonna need it," she ordered.

The chief ordered the rest of the men, "get back out there and get some milk from the white bell-blossoms! Try and get back here alive!"

Rei focused her body into forcing something large out of an exit so small. Her rough hands clung onto the the twigs, leaves, and dirt of the giant roots, and basically anything that her hands can grab onto.

"Huff, huff. Don't worry about me! I'm gonna do this!" She cried in a determined, yet painful voice.

"You'd better, people died for you, Rei. For your baby. Make it worth it!" Alpha and the chief demanded in unison.

"I will!" Rei puffed.

Several minutes later, three of the five men returned from collecting milk. And Rei was almost done. By now, she had to sit down on some rocks that the chief went out to get for her. Alpha blocked the view from the rest of the survivors, who were curious as to how babies come.

"I see the head!" Alpha said.

"I hear you just fine! No need to yell!" Rei replied. "Ohhh fuck! This hurts!"

The chief rushed over to her side as Rei let out an ear piercing scream that almost rendered everyone deaf.

But then came the sound that everyone was expecting. A baby's cry.

"Wahhh! Wwwahh!"

Rei reached forward from Alpha, was carrying the little newborn, still wet and covered in liquids. The chief took out his stone blade and cut the cord allowing Rei to rip off a part of her tunic and use it to dry her baby.

"He looks healthy and fine. You did a good job Rei. We're proud of you. Now our comrades can rest in peace," the chief assured.

"Thank you. But this isn't just my work. The father has a say too. Nanik's strength lies in my baby, I can feel it," Rei smiled down at her child.

The baby boy stopped crying and gently opened his eyes. Curious to the world around him. And the people that are present there.

One of the men who went milk collecting walked up to Rei to give her the torn off pieces of clothing to bundle up her son, and the small bowl of milk.

"What's his name? We're gonna need to all know it, as of now," the chief said.

Rei looked at her son's large innocent eyes. As if trying to see into his future, the things that he will go through and experience, his pains, and happy moments. His character.

Little did she know, that her son would one day grow up to be one of the most feared enemies of all time.

"His name is…"

* * *

 _Woodlands, Ishgar. Year x43 BZ._

 _First person point of view from Acnologia._

"What do you think you're doing?" The male instructor yelled.

I turned around from running down the forest to face my instructor, one of the rangers of my survival group. His face was flushed red with frustration.

"I was running. Like you said," I replied obediently.

"No you weren't! You call that running kiddo? That's not gonna cause even the weakest dragon to break a sweat!"

I ruffled my messy blue hair and looked up at the man, not intimidated by his yelling. It was perfectly normal. And it made sense. This is a skill I'll need to master in order to survive.

"Do you want to die kid?" The man suddenly asked, picking up a stick from the ground.

I immediately reacted with throwing a nearby rock to his face, before running away at top speed.

My body felt light and full of energy. I may be only five, but some kids age are already able to run faster than me.

I focused on running an irregular pattern and occasionally throw anything I could pick up without breaking speed, back at my instructor, who was catching up.

I made it out of the forest and into the tall grass. Slowing down, I went down on my knees and began crawling down an imaginary path, predicting the movements of my pursuer.

Using nothing but my sense of smell, adept hearing, and natural instincts. I made it to the edge of the tall grass, back at the area where I entered from the forest. Sniffing the air one last time, I bolted back towards the place in the forest where my instructor and I were training.

Halfway there, I heard the sound of footsteps getting closer towards me. A sharp stone blade whirled by my ear and I countered it by breaking a thin branch and hurl it back.

Spotting a small opening a thick area of vegetation, I quickly switched direction and dove into the small opening. My instructor couldn't fit so he kept running forward.

I never been in this part of the forest, so I smelled the air again, following the scent of the people in my group all the way back to the camp site.

"Safe!" I cried as I touched the giant tree right in front of the area where my group was clearing up for the night.

My mom came up to me and nodded.

"Good job. Now tomorrow, you're gonna walk all by yourself ok? Let's see if you can reach three kilometres without rest!"

"I will be able do it," I said confidently.

"I'm sure you will," another voice said.

From the tents, my instructor suddenly appeared, a mouthful of berries and smiling down at me.

I gaped in awe, "how...how did you beat me back here?"

"Now you see kid? The difference between experience and no experience. This camp was literally right in front of you should you kept on running, but you made a turn to the small opening. Gotta use your senses at all times, even in panic."

I was upset.

"I'm not gonna do that again! If that was a dragon chasing me, I'd be dead!"

* * *

 _Evergreen Forests_

I followed the rangers into the deeper part of the forest. There were a few new people to our group too now.

Since the last few days, we came across some lone survivors and broken bands of groups. And now, we've reached a whole new area.

The rangers here was teaching me how to collect food.

"Look there son, red berries and black ones. Which ones do you pick?" An older man asked me.

"Red ones, because dragons are attracted to the black ones," I answered.

"Go pick them."

I went up to the bush and reached out to the berries.

"Dragon!" A voice cried in panic.

I immediately dropped the berries I was picking but kept the ones that were already on my shirt, and began to run towards the lake downhill.

Several of the rangers ran out in different directions and eventually, I saw them exit one by one from the forest and into different areas of the lake.

The man from before appeared in front of me and nodded for me to come out of the water.

"You gotta react faster next time!" He yelled, but not in a mean way.

"Did I have to keep some of the berries? Or should I have dropped them?" I asked curiously.

The man pulled me out of the water and we began walking back towards the new campsite.

"It's up to you, really. You've got your reasons for keeping the food or keeping your life. Does someone back in the group need food? Do you need it? Are you certain that you'll live while protecting the food? In the end, it's really up to your own judgement," the man explained.

"What if I'm wrong? What if what I did only caused more bad things to happen?" I asked, walking slightly faster alongside the man.

"Let it happen. So be it. Listen, kid. This is harsh, but there's no certainty that you'll live 'til you're old and gray. Expect everyday to be your last day, assume that you're vulnerable everywhere you go. Only this way, you'll keep going for the next couple of years or so."

* * *

 _Deciduous Forest._

It's been a few months, and our group increased to almost double the amount of people. There were a few more kids now too, but all of them were much older than me. I wasn't very close to anybody really, not even the rangers who train me in survival.

The only person I'm close to is mom.

It was night right now, and the chief was counting heads to divide the morning rations as evenly as possible. I'm cuddling up to mom, who was leaning against the back of a tree. There wasn't a fire for warmth due to it being too risky. So we used each other for warmth.

"Mom? Can you continue from last night?" I begged.

My mom smiled down at me and pulled me closer. "Now where were we? Ah, yes. The part where your father, Nanik, was trying to show off by lighting an entire forest on fire and escape while his hands were tied behind his back."

These were the times when I felt safe and relaxed. And most of all, loved. It was rare for this to occur in the apocalypse.

Because it hurts when you lose that feeling of safety and love.

* * *

 **I hope that you guys enjoyed this new revision to my first chapter! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW!**


	2. Survival of the Fittest

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, all of its characters, plot, and locations belong to Hiro Mashima. The only thing I own is this fanfiction. Enjoy!**

 **Did you like the previous chapter? Well keep on reading! And be sure to FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW! It keeps me motivated! :)**

* * *

 **Ch. 2: Survival of the fittest**

 _Mountain Valley, Ishgar. Year x42 BZ_

"And that's how you set up a night shelter," the dark-haired woman explained as she stood back and looked over her work.

I observed every square inch of the simple night shelter. It was made of twigs, grass, soil that was packed together until it resembled a dome with hollowed space inside for sleeping. She covered the entire shelter with special leaves called, 'umbers.'

They prevent dragons from detecting the smell or presence of human beings. But you must use the umbers efficiently, don't waste so many leaves on just one shelter. However, don't use so little that you're going to be spotted and eaten in the middle of the night.

"I think I get it. Thanks for teaching me," I said.

"No problem, now you if you ever get separated from your group or your mom, you can build this all by yourself at night. Got it?" The woman made sure.

"Got it. And then I follow the scent and trail of my people the next morning," I finished.

"I think you're going to be a fine survivor."

* * *

 _Woodlands, Ishgar._

I sat quietly in the bush, stalking my target.

A small brown squirrel.

I remembered what the chief of my group said. 'Be one with nature. Pretend that you're not there. Erase your existence from the world for that moment. The target will come to you.'

Holding my breath, I squeezed my hand-woven net, made from the roots of the water flowers found in rivers and lakes. The squirrel finished eating its nut and looked around, seeking for more.

That's when I made my first move. I threw a stone out from my hiding place, slightly scaring, but also attracting the squirrel at the same time. It came towards the stone.

Whoosh!

In an instant, I jumped out the bush and threw my net over the squirrel, who almost escaped at the last minute. I quickly took out another stone from my shirt pocket and smashed the squirrel's head in.

"There, now I just have to take it back to camp," I giggled a bit over my success.

A squirrel may be seem small, but during this time, it's considered to be an entire meal. The dragons didn't leave us with much to hunt and eat.

* * *

 _Woodlands, Ishgar. The next morning_

"Wake up!"

"Wake up!"

I slowly opened my eyes. The terrified face of my mom was leaning over me. I sat up from the ground where I was sleeping. All around me, everyone was picking up the bags of supplies, food, and weapons.

The air had a weird smell too.

"Mom? What's going on?" I asked.

"Dragons, son. Do you smell that smell? Someone didn't put enough umbers on their shelter last night. Come on, pick up your stuff. We're gonna be leaving anytime now, and the chief won't wait for any stragglers," my mom quickly explained.

I did as I was told. Everyone began to pick up their pace, panic and terror filled their eyes. But not mine for some reason. Ever since I was born, I have yet to have seen a real actual dragon. My brain tells me that I fear them, but my heart says otherwise.

A minute later, everyone was running out of the camp area and down the path the chief went. I ran right beside my mother, not falling behind.

A few other kids, a bit older than me were also running. Some much older and stronger looking kids were carrying more than one bag and were helping the weaker people along.

We ran through the thick tangle of trees, branches, roots, and all sorts of vegetation. Along the way, some people either tripped or dropped their stuff. But what I noticed was that nobody was helping the fallen people back up or were anyone picking up the dropped supplies.

Everybody just kept on running.

"Just keep running, son. Just keep on running," my mom encouraged me.

After we've been running for the past fifteen minutes or so, I asked my mom whether or not we've lost track of the dragon or dragons, that was following us.

"It may seem that we've lost them for now, but we don't know for sure. Now I hate to admit it, but the dragons are more skilled and intelligent than we are, so we have to—"

"Everybody get down!" The chief hollered.

The whole group stopped running instantly and dove under the nearest area of cover as possible. My mom grabbed me and squeezed into the small opening of a hollowed tree. Two other people squeezed in with us.

The whole area fell deathly silent.

But then—BAM!

The entire tree where my mom and I, and the two other people were hiding inside of, got knocked over in one great blow. Revealing our hiding place.

This caused the two people to panic and run towards the other hiding areas, leading the dragon that knocked the tree over towards the rest of the group.

My mom managed to hold me close and roll back into the bushes from the knocked over tree as soon as the two people began running. I caught a clear and bright view of the dragon.

For the first time ever, I saw laid eyes on one of these giant flying reptiles that dominated our world.

It was incredible. I always felt weak in comparison to the other more experienced men in our group, but I felt like a speck of dust compared to the entirety of the majestic green dragon looming a few feet in front of me.

My mind quickly returned to reality when the dragon got closer in proximity to the underground hole where many more of the survivors were hiding. Eventually, one of reached their limit and emerged from the hole and began running away.

This caused an entire chain reaction of people running out of their hiding spots and away from the area. My mother joined in on the action, dragging me by my shirt. She didn't need to do that, I caught up just fine.

Everywhere around me, there were screaming and crying and curses.

"I AIN'T GONNA DIE TODAY! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"FUCK THAT SONUVABITCH OF A LIZARD!"

"GET OUTTA MY WAY FUCKIN' WAY, SLOWPOKE!"

"MARLA! WHERE ARE YOU?! MARLA!"

"WHERE'S THE CHIEF?!"

My mom ignored all of those shouts and cries. She focused solely on one thing: me. And I realized that when I saw the wet drops flowing down from her eyes. I gasped.

"Mom! Are you ok?" I cried.

My mom picked me up and dropped all the bags she was carrying so she could run faster. I buried my head into her shoulder. Normally, I would squirm and whine to be put down, as to not be burden on her.

But I couldn't help it this time. Due to all the chaos and confusion, it felt good to be so clear on one thing: being loved by another person.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes and saw the large green dragon from before across from me. It was far enough that it didn't notice us right away. But I could see it just fine. The dragon had cornered some of the survivors from our group.

It picked up a young man who looked to be about a teenager when he was trying to run away. Even from far away, I could hear his bloodcurdling scream and see how hard he was squirming to be let go.

The dragon didn't hesitate in crushing the boy's torso with one hand and stuffing his dead body into his mouth.

It only took a fraction of that moment to change my opinion and view on dragons. From the first time I saw it, I felt envious of the dragon, even admired it a little. But when I saw how easily it killed and ate that boy.

I felt nothing but rage and fear.

It was as if something cracked inside of me that day. Actually, more like something died inside of me. It was the innocence I thought I had. All of the hard training and basic skills of survival up this point, now made sense.

And I too, understood how precious life is.

* * *

 _Riverlands, Ishgar. Year x41 BZ_

It had been many months since the last event.

I turned seven years old and my birthday was celebrated through a day of fun and relaxing in the riverlands.

The people who survived the attack from the green dragon months ago, including my mother and I, reunited and continued to travel. Eventually, we met up with more groups and individual survivors.

We never saw our old chief again, but we now have a new one. Actually, we have two. A husband and wife. They were a middle-aged couple who came from the mountains. They dealt with many dangers and survived through more experiences than anyone in this group.

There were more kids in this group. Even a few of them were my age. But I didn't make any friends with them. I talked to from time to time, but honestly, I didn't feel connected to them. There was no common ground between me and them.

So I decided not to get too close and just be friendly.

It was a nice way of having people hold my back.

My mom continued to tell stories of my dad each night after the headcount.

"Your dad was very flamboyant. He was also a bit umm...weird. When our group went on for two weeks without any fresh berries, your dad literally started eating dirt mixed with morning dew."

"Gross! Did he throw it back up?" I laughed quietly.

"Almost. But if he did, it would've been a waste of food. Said that the soil had a lot of good nutrients in them, so if he ate some, he might be as strong as tree one day. But it didn't matter to me, he was him, either way," my mom sighed.

"Mom?"

"Yes, love?"

"What happened to dad?"

There was a long silence between us. I've been wanting to ask this for awhile, my mom was always telling me stories about my dad. It made me feel as if I knew him ever since I was born, but no, I never did.

I know that she's telling me these stories because I would never be able to meet my dad. So I want to know, one hundred percent, what happened to him.

"Your dad left. He left the group one day. Told the chief that he promised to be somewhere else. He told the chief, but not me," my mom replied.

"Did he not want to see me?"

My mom immediately held me close and said into my ear, "if he saw you right now, he would've been proud of making such a strong boy."

She continued talking, "He probably left because of his other companions. Remember that I said men have many companions because we want to repopulate our world?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Well, he probably has many other children out here in this world. You have a lot of half-brothers and half-sisters. Maybe one day, you'd be lucky enough to meet one of them!"

I smiled at that thought.

"If I'm lucky…"

 _Rocky mountains, Ishgar._

We reached a new terrain today, it was a large rocky mountainlike region. There were slopes and cliffs everywhere, we had to careful while crossing the area. Luckily, our chiefs were experienced in traveling across mountains.

The whole area was still difficult to get through though. Some people almost fell over the ledge due to a sudden small rockslide. Many of them managed to hold on, but a few unlucky ones fell to their deaths.

Every time we reached a large ledge, we sniffed the air for any dragon scent. When traveling in places like this, it was easy to be vulnerable to any unexpected ambushes. So better safe than sorry.

A few of our top rangers smelled a few dragons that were several kilometeres away. They predicted that they shouldn't be passing by for the next couple of hours or so, giving us plenty of time in passing by.

For the next couple of minutes we managed to cross the highest portion of the entire area, and the downhill part began.

"Don't worry about it, people. This is the easy part, it's practically walking down!" The male chief encouraged everyone.

He was right, it was pretty easy. Apart from a few times when I almost lost my footing and slipped, the whole journey climbing down was less risky than the journey climbing up.

Halfway down the mountain, the rangers at the front of the group with the chiefs, suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.

"What? But that's impossib—"

The man didn't even get to finish his sentence. The grey and white dragon flew by in like the wind. It was fast that it blew off a few other people who were barely holding onto the edge of the mountain.

The man's lower half fell down, his blood splattering across the rocks of the steep slope. Everyone began doubling their speed in climbing down the mountain, there was a ledge not too far from below us, but our speed wasn't matched for the speed of the previous dragon.

And its partners.

Several more grey and white dragons zoomed from out of there and began plucking people out one by one, nobody could predict when they attacked nor how fast they were moving.

"They're wind dragons!" I heard someone say. "There's no way we'll be able to beat them, they fly at the speed of a hurricane! No wonder they managed to get here so fast from kilometers away!"

After a few seconds, the wind dragons suddenly became bored of plucking people from the edges and batted its wings so powerfully that it caused everyone to lose their grip and fall. The people who were still quite a distance above ground splattered upon contact.

The others fell painfully on their backs, sides, and fronts. My body ached from the impact of the ground, and my vision was hazy.

"Son! Come on, lets go!" My mom pulled me away from the mountain area and we tried to head towards the forest right in front of us.

But it was difficult to run amongst the all the panicing people. The four wind dragons circled over us and began 'playing' with the people. They were throwing them up and catching them in midair with their mouths.

One panicked man accidentally bumped into my mom and I while escaping, catching the attention of a nearby wind dragon. It immediately picked the man up, who grabbed my mom's leg out of desperation.

I immediately grabbed both of my mom's arms and tried to pull her back.

"MOM!" I cried.

"AAAHHHH! SON, LISTEN TO ME. JUST RUN!" My mom cried.

"NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!"

My mom shut her eyes and gave me a small smile. More water was flowing from her eyes.

"I don't wanna die son, more than ever, I wanna live. But I don't you to die either. So make a smart decision, I'm counting on you."

My heart beat like a drum and time seemed to slow down. It felt like a century had passed when I let go of my mom's arms and left the dragon take both her and the man away, into the dark opening of the dragon's mouth.

Blood droplets splurted all over me, I was frozen.

"I have to run...why can't I run…"

"KID! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! RUN! KEEP ON RUNNING!" The ranger man called out to me.

His voice reached my head and I turned around and began running towards the forest.

I felt something wet running down my face.

It was water. Just like it was with my mom.

Eventually, we stopped at a clearing in the forest and rested. All the remaining survivors gathered. Both of the chiefs managed to make it, along with half of the group from this morning.

We lost the other half, including my mom.

The water from my eyes did not stop flowing when nightfall came and we made our shelters. I made mine a little smaller than before, there wasn't any need for the shelter to hold two people, and there wasn't going to be any stories tonight either.

The ranger from before stopped by my shelter and wiped my eyes with a thin leaf.

"Dry your tears kid, there's gonna be more of them as you grow. But look on the bright side, you won the lottery today. You got to live, the other people, well their time was up. Just keep buying yourself time kid, keep buying yourself time."

And that's when I realized it.

This world I live in, we all live in. Doesn't give a shit about you. Whether you're old or young, strong or weak, boy or girl, we're all the same. It doesn't matter if you die or live, there's nothing special about an individual from an individual.

We're all just puppets being controlled by the force of nature and time. But the good news was that we could "buy more time."

By preparing ourselves, by making the right choices, we could extend our lives and make better changes for the future.

Each day was a death day, and all I could do was pray, "not today. Cause I ain't gonna die today."

* * *

 _Pine Forests, Ishgar. Year x36 BZ_

It's been five years since I lost my mom. I turned twelve years old and I am now one of the main suppliers for my group.

Now all of the skills and training my instructors put me through came into purpose. I joined the rest of the suppliers out on morning hunts to gather food, water, wood, and more. Anything that we used to survive.

Leaves for clothes, rocks for fire and weapons, and more people for our group. It was dangerous and hard work, but it was extremely beneficial and a good way of earning experience.

Our group began to expand, and we became much stronger than we were before. It was amazing improvement. And it was even more amazing, the fact the our two chiefs from five years ago were still alive and well.

However, the pros always comes with the cons.

Our group was strong in terms in strength, numbers, and experience. But we lacked in the food department.

It was getting harder and harder to hunt for any living creatures. We couldn't just live on berries and plants, the majority of our food was suffering from lack of nutrition and were starving. We needed meat and fast.

One day, after coming back to camp from a failed hunt with my partner, a boy my age named 'A.' We saw three older men, who were also suppliers, come back with giant bags of supposed food.

"Omigosh! Where did you get these?" I asked, running up to them.

"Calm your horses, kid. There's plenty for everyone!" With that, the man dumped out the contents of the bag.

A immediately turned around and covered his mouth. I jumped back in shock, and partly because of the smell.

A few of the other suppliers, returning from their hunts dropped their materials when they saw the contents of the bag being dumped onto the grass.

There were legs, arms, hands, feet, torsos, and many more limbs that were all cut up into several pieces. The blood that surrounded the limbs were still fresh, which meant that the bodies were just recently killed.

A female supplier went up to them and asked, "Who did you guys kill?"

The man shrugged, "Eh. Some of the sick, the old, the weak, the dying, you know, the ones who you can just look at, and say 'they're not gonna make it.'"

"They were part of our group!" Another supplier yelled.

"They were gonna die anyways. Doesn't mean the rest of us have to share the same fate," the man reasoned.

My mouth hung open, as if trying to argue against him. But no words came out. I couldn't believe it, but I actually found reason in the man's words. In order to survive, for me to survive, I can't worry about the lives of everyone!

I took the first steps towards the pile of human limbs and picked up an arm. I inspected it for dirt before nodding towards A to get some food too.

He went up and grabbed two limbs, we walked towards an open area where we could make a fire to cook these limbs.

"That was really brave! Being the first to take the food," A remarked.

"Eh, I wanted to eat. And 'sides, the more I argue, the more I'll starve," I stated.

We both lightly laughed as we roasted the humans limbs over the fire. It was such an ironic moment, doing something so inhumane, and yet feeling so calm over it.

Maybe it was because A was the first person I've ever considered as a friend. We were both partners as suppliers for hunting and gathering, but honestly, I felt a connection to A ever since we both started working together.

It was a connection I haven't felt since my mom died.

And a connection that I wanted, but also feared.

* * *

 **Writing young Acnologia is really fun for me. I almost feel bad making him endure through all the bad things that are coming up later in this story. Well, that's the only way for this to tie into the canon series.**

 **Please FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW if you enjoyed! :)**


	3. The Safe-Zone

**I'm sorry it's been awhile. It's just that, school's been really tough lately. I've been feeling really, really, really, really down lately. I feel that I'm just not betting any better, not matter how hard I work. It's annoying, not to mention, it hurts. Like a lot. Until then, I've never cried at school, nor in classrooms before.**

 **But then again, this is a hard year. It's a huge leap from grade 10, and I knew it too. I just didn't...**

 **Nevermind. I shouldn't be too hard on myself, but it still hurts... The only thing that kept me sane is my creative activites. Things like music, art, and writing fanfics kept me going. I couldn't give up just yet. And I won't ever give it either! So here you go guys! Chapter 3!**

 **Oh and if you guys read the chapter on FT about Irene creating dragonslaying magic, and how dragons were only dangerous on the western continent...well it damamges my fanfic a little, but doesn't matter. I'm going to continue on my way! (I also personally didn't like how Mashima inserted Irene into the whole Dragon King Festival, it makes the dragonslayers seem less OP. Considering that their powers didn't come from dragons, but from a human wizard?)**

 **Just my opinion, please don't hate. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. I just own this fanfic.**

* * *

 **Ch. 3: Safe-Zone**

 _Maple forests, Ishgar. Year x37 BZ_

Months later, I turned thirteen years old. I suddenly grew taller, and I felt strange. It was like, I would sometimes feel ashamed of myself, and other times, angry at everyone else.

It was hard to explain. But at least I had one person constantly on my side whenever I felt lost at my own emotions.

A was still around at this time. He turned thirteen too. And by now, we were pretty darn close. He was a very cheerful guy to be around. He always knew how to make me smile, and always had something interesting to say.

"And, so that guy said, 'What? I thought you said, 'be back in two minutes!' But really he—"

I shook my head, "I already know that A, keep those old jokes to yourself. Please. Tell me a new one."

We were on our way back from collecting firewood, and A decided to suddenly bring up an old joke. I've heard it more than enough times from him, it was getting just tad bit annoying.

But that's what I love about him.

A scoffed, "You know that I can't just spit out new jokes like how an earth dragon spits out gastric pellets."

"That was a horrible analogy. And a new joke," I concluded.

We've reached the outside of the base of our new camp and placed the wood we've collected on top of the already massive pile of wood surrounding a large tree.

The inner camp was a little deeper within the forest. It was safer this way for the survivors who aren't too strong, to stay out of danger. And it wasn't too far from the edge of the forest that the suppliers and rangers will have too much trouble navigating their way back.

A wiped his forehead with his tunic before turning to face me, smiling.

I smiled back, admiring him again. He was a lean boy about average height, slightly shorter than me, and had spiky white hair, which looked really nice with his large blue eyes.

I ruffled my own messy blue hair, which fell before my eyes. It had been awhile since I cut my hair, and it had grown, very unevenly, to the bottom of my neck.

My mom used to say that my father who've died if he saw that my hair wasn't salmon coloured, like his. My hair matched the blue shade of my mom's.

Mom…

How long has it been? It's been a few years, but it felt like centuries. Even after all this time, and making friends with A, I never gotten over my mom's death.

I guess it's just a one of the few things in life that I can't forget.

Tears started welling up in my eyes. And I shook as I quietly cried, my hands clenched in tight fists.

A reached out to me.

"Whoa. Hey, come on now. Why don't we take a break, ok? Let's go collecting wood again when you feel better!"

A grabbed me by the arm and began walking me towards the inner camp. I firmly shook my arm out of his grasp and shook my head.

"I'm fine. Just a bit emotional. But that's all. Don't worry, we still haven't gathered enough food for the elderlies back at camp."

A's concerned face turned bright again and began dragging me in the opposite direction.

"Alright, let's get some food!"

I smiled. A was my light. My happiness. My first and best friend.

* * *

 _Later that afternoon._

"We've been picking berries from this part of the forest for an hour or so," A said.

I ignored him and continued picking the berries and stuffing them into the makeshift bag I made from the remains of my old tunic. I wanted to continue picking. So I could forget about all the pain in our world.

But the more I picked, the more the memories and thoughts were overwhelming me. I began sweating, and my hands were shaking. The berries began falling as fast as they were being picked from my hands.

A grabbed my shaking hand and looked at me.

"Let's go back to the camp. We're pretty far out and we should meet with the rest of the suppliers before the sun lowers below the treeline," A said.

"I know, but this may be the last time we're going to gather food. I don't want the group to starve to the brink of desperation. Remember what happened last time?"

Images of the chopped up limbs of our fellow group members flashed back at me. I was so desperate that night, that I didn't feel much remorse after eating. But looking back on it now, I realized that what we did back then, made us just as bad as the dragons.

No, it made us even worse. Cannibalism shouldn't even be considered as a last resort.

This showed just how corrupt we humans have become over the centuries of the dragon apocalypse. It was just awful. I couldn't stand it. But then again, I'm a part of this group.

A cringed at the memory of that night when we ate human flesh.

"Why did you have to bring it up? I was just getting over it. Now back to the topic, I really think that we should be heading back. It's getting—"

I pushed A down and covered his mouth with my hand, shushing him.

Looking up, I inspected the trees. Seeing if there's any hint of leaves blowing from a dragon's wing flap. I rolled off of A, who got the hint as to what's going on.

We both laid low on our bellies and crawled forward with our arms, towards the ditch right between two large trees. It was deep enough for us to stay out of sight of the dragons.

Squeezing together, A and I could hear our hearts beating rapidly inside our chest and our breaths coming out in short, quiet bursts.

The dragon I smelled, landed a few seconds later, right at the front of the berry bush, where I was picking. My bag of berries was scattered on the ground, I had to leave it behind. My priority was A, so I put all my actions into keeping him and me alive.

The dragon growled and sniffed the air. A and I quickly dug at the ground and speared ourselves with dirt. This helps cover up our scent.

That didn't stop the dragon from continuing to sniff the air and gradually get closer to our hiding spot. A clenched his teeth. I squeezed his hand.

Nine of out ten times. Dragons will find you in your hiding spots. The best surviving tool is speed. If you can't run away fast, nor can you keep up you speed for longer than two minutes. Then you are a dead man.

The dragon got into the two feet danger zone.

"RUN!"

A and I took off like lightning and began running down towards the outside edge of this forest. Where the large meadow was located, and from there, we would easily find our way towards the inner camp.

The dragon reacted fast. He made a grab for A, but missed him by only a few centimeters.

That got A's heart beating and adrenaline running. He sped up, causing me to increase as well.

The dragon stopped running on ground level and took to the air. Dragons were always considered to be the most dangerous when they begin flying. It gave them a higher ranger of motion and free space. Making it easier to target us.

That's when our agility and reaction time is put to the test.

I anticipated the dragon's dive a few seconds before it did it, and scrambled out of the way. A sighed in relief that I wasn't caught. He too, dodged another attempted attack the dragon made while still flying.

We picked up pieces of debris whenever possible and threw it back at the dragon, distracting it, and buying us a few extra seconds for running.

Finally, we made it the clearing and we looked around to find the pile of firewood that should be located right outside of the entrance that leads to the inner camp.

"There!" A cried, pointing in the northeast direction from where we were now.

The dragon's growling got louder, which signaled for us to sprint again. We dove into the part of the forest and smothered our bodies in the dirt, to cover up our scents.

Now that the dragon is further away from us, it shouldn't be able to smell us with all the dirt on top on our bodies. Suddenly, a few rangers appeared before us.

Upon seeing our bodies close to the ground, they dropped down as well, knowing that a dragon is nearby. We all watched closely as the dragon gradually lost interest in tracking its food down, and turned around and flew off.

We all got back up. A and I looked at each other, breathing heavily.

"That was close," A said.

"Could've been worse. But we did it," I replied.

The dark skinned ranger shook his head. "You're just kids. And you're suppliers too right? That was already pretty impressive that you escaped from that. How did the gathering go today?"

I scratched my head, remembering the berries I had to leave behind when the dragon attacked.

"Well, I had to give up the food in order to live…" I began.

The female ranger looked disappointed but cheered up almost immediately.

"It's ok. The chiefs are planning to stay here for one more day. We'll be leaving tomorrow. You can recollect the food again. Remember, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time. There's already enough humans being eaten in this world."

A shuddered. I backed up to him, patting him on his back.

"I know. We'll get more food tomorrow."

* * *

 _The next morning._

"The berries are gone!"

A looked confused. "Maybe someone else took all of them last night."

"No, There's now way. The bush was full yesterday! And we're the only group in this territory! Unless another group traveled by last night…"

I frantically searched around the empty berry bush, looking for even the tiniest of berries. But the entire bush was bare. There was not a single berry, ripe or raw, in sight. Looks like our group will starve once again.

I was not going to give up so soon.

I began tearing away the bare branches and dug deeper into the bush. "There's gotta be more! There's just gotta be!"

A grabbed my hand and held them back, firmly. I stopped struggling and let my head fall. A looked at the cuts on my forearms and hands from the branches I've scratched myself upon.

"Hey, why don't we go down to the river and wash up? There should be some leaves there to help with your arm. C'mon."

He gestured downhill in the opposite direction of the berry bush, smiling gently as he did. I followed and our walk steadily increased to a running race.

We both laughed as we ran, side by side with one another.

Once we got the hill that would lead to the river, A tripped over a stone and started tumbling downhill. I ran after him, yelling his name.

"AAAAAAAA!" I cried.

A kept on tumbling until he splashed into the shallow bank of the river, spluttering out some water and removing some algae from his hair.

I stopped in front of him, kneeling down with a concerned look on my face.

"Are you ok?"

A spits out a fountain of water onto my face. I immediately fell back and wiped my face.

"Hey! C'mon, that's disgusting!"

A laughed, "Gotcha!"

I didn't laugh, I just kept my head down and my face out of sight. A stopped laughing and waded over to me. He looked a bit worried. Had he gone too far?

"Hey, it was just a joke. Can't you take a joke? Hey, Ake—"

I jumped on top of him, pushing him into the water. I began wrestling him, staying on top of his chest. As he tried to push me off of him. I began to laugh and enjoy myself, so I got up and let him stand up.

A coughed and spluttered. "You suck."

I kept on splashing him and laughing. He began fighting back too, picking up bits of the mud from the bottom of the river and throwing it at me.

I never had this much fun since my last birthday when our group went down to the riverlands. That was the year my mother died, and I had to grow independent.

The year after, I met A.

Could it be a coincidence that this happened? I thought about it as A threw a giant mudball at my direction. I covered myself with my bare hands, getting it all wet and icky with mud.

We kept splashing our way downstream. The water got a little deeper and eventually, to the point where we had to tread. But that didn't stop us.

Just for this moment. We forgot about the world we were living in. Our day to day hardships. The dragons. And survival.

We were just two young boys. Innocent and full of cheer. Wanting nothing but to have some fun.

A dove down and attempted to drag me under, but I refused and pulled him up. We both laughed some more. I didn't know about him, but my stomach hurt from all this laughing and playing around.

This was the first time my stomach hurt this much from doing something other than daily workouts and training.

We stopped laughing simultaneously and just sighed. Treading water, looking at each other. A's sparkling eyes and radiant smile was the last thing I saw before he disappeared from my life for good.

I didn't feel it. I didn't smell it. I didn't know.

The water dragon was fast in pulling A down. He didn't even have time to react. I could tell from his facial expressions. It didn't change one bit from the moment he was dragged under.

It was because of our fooling around and splashes that attracted the water dragon. It wasn't until then, that any of us knew that dragons also inhabit the waters.

We knew that the dragons dominated nearly every territory of the world. But nobody's ever seen a dragon living or hunting in the waters. Rivers, lakes, and oceans. Rangers never reported of such things.

That was why we would hide in large bodies of water or build shelters near it; Because we assumed that no dragon would be nearby.

I was a fool.

As soon as A was gone, I began swimming away from the river and towards the bank, frantically crawling out and running back in the direction where we came from.

By the time I left the river, that patch of water turned a sickly dark red. Then the giant white dragon emerged from the river, water rushing over its great body like waterfalls. I immediately began running.

The chase began. Due to my wet clothes, and the recent events, I couldn't coordinate my body very well through the thick tangle of forest. The dragon caught up rather easily. I kept on throwing every single object I could get my hands on, but it didn't work.

Finally, my body gave way and I slowed down, allowing the dragon to catch me. Once I felt that tight grip wrapped around my torso, constricting my airway, I knew that my time was up.

Closing my eyes, I prepared for the end.

A wooshing sound broke through the air, but I couldn't open my eyes. I was still too traumatized. But I did hear the cry of the dragon. Another woosh came through and the dragon let out another cry.

I felt its grip loosen. And a warm pair of arms encircle around me, pulling me out of the dragon's fist. I barely opened my eyes, but still caught a glimpse of the white water dragon, pulling a sharpened spear out of one eye. And crying over another spear in the other eye.

I turned my head around to see the face of my rescuer. It was a young man with shoulder length black hair. He looked rather fit and was carrying me over his shoulder as we run through the forest.

It wasn't until I began to gain some proper consciousness that I realized we were going in a completely different direction. But worst of all, that this man, who I'm very grateful of, is also someone who's not from our group.

* * *

 _Lowlands. Sunset_

"Looks healthy and fit. Just a bit young. Are you sure he'll be an asset?" An older man asked my rescuer.

"I didn't have much of a choice. He was about to be eaten if I didn't step in. So now, he'll have to stay, because he owes us," my rescuer explained.

Another man who was standing next to the older man said, "I dunno chief, he's probably from another group, considering that there's no way he could've made it this far without any help. He might run away."

I finally asked, "Where am I?"

All three men looked at me. The chief kneeled and gave out his hand. I gently took it, looking at him in the eyes.

"Welcome to your new group, son. From now on, you belong to us, and you will do anything you can to help us survive. Got it?"

I nodded slowly, still not comprehending over what had happened between now and the past several hours. Too many things had happened.

My brain couldn't take it all in. I was almost in a state of complete brokenness. But I did manage to comprehend one thing.

The world had only one rule: first come, first serve. In world where only the strong survives, the people who get their stuff first, will live. So I don't technically belong to a certain group, but I belong to whoever can get their hands on me.

And this group needed survivors like me, in order to survive.

* * *

 _Northern Terrain, Ishgar. Few weeks later._

I climbed down from the giant tree, carrying a pile of umber leaves and twigs stuffed into the back of my worn-out trousers. I just recently outgrew my old pair, and had to quickly create a new one out a hand-me-down from an older member of the group.

It was still a bit loose though. A few leaves fell down. The suppliers at the bottom quickly caught it.

"Careful up there kid! If you want some advice, just jump down once you pass the quarter mark branch," the male supplier cried.

I knew what he was referring to and transferred some of the twigs from my trousers to between my teeth. I was able to speed down a lot faster, and once I reached the branch that marked the quarter of the tree's height from the bottom, I jumped.

Landing perfectly on my hands and one knee, I spat out the twigs and handed them over to some of the other supplies, dividing our loot up.

"That's good enough for today. Lets head back. There's something that needs to be discussed tonight with everyone," one the older suppliers explained.

I asked, "About what? Whether or not should we be moving to the south or continuing up north?"

"Whether or not we shoulde be heading west," the same supplier corrected me.

It was all explained in clear detail that following night. We all gathered around the low fire inside the large cave the rangers managed to secure for us while we were out collecting during the day.

The chief finished counting heads and began to speak.

"There's a Safe-Zone. Now I don't know where it is, before anybody starts asking me. But I know it's out there. It's been confirmed by one of our rangers. Look here."

The chief threw out an opened book that had shiny golden words scribbled on a blank yellowed page. _It exists. On the Western Continent. Build a raft, you'll get across the water._

I was in awe. This is one of the only magic items we humans had left since the dragons came. I remember my mom telling me about those books on night, they were a common way of communicating before the apocalypse.

The chief continued to speak, "I'm not going to explain the rest of it, because I'm sure you guys can all figure it out for yourselves. So it's time to decide people. Are we gonna go west? Or stay here and try our best?"

"West!"

"Stay!"

"Are you kidding me? Of course, west!"

"But we're already surviving just fine out here!"

"Stay! Stay! Please!"

The entire cave began to turn into a loud room of bickering. There were mixed opinions everywhere about this decision on where to go. I looked back and forth between the blurs of people, arguing and wrestling with the people whose opinions don't match with theirs.

Finally, I let out an opinion too.

"West!"

And jumped right into the fight.

A few weeks later. It has been decided, half of the people would be heading west with the current cheif, while the other half will remain here, and choose a new chief. It was the only way to settle this.

One of the members of the departing group, a young man with bright blonde hair, looked down at me as I prepared for the long and dangerous journey ahead of me.

"Hey, you sure about this? This isn't a surprise but there'll be tons of life-threatening events coming up, and there's no gurantee you'll make it to the Safe-Zone. And in the worst case situation, we make it, but the Safe-Zone isn't there. Or even worse, that you die right before…"

"The Safe-Zone is there," I said flatly.

"What?" The young man asked.

"It's there, and the proof is real. Survival is about the will to live, the want to live. The Safe-Zone was created by people like us right? I dunno, I'm just guessing. But it was, then they must've been desperate to live too. There's no way this is all a trick," I explained.

"Well, I guess so. Hope you make it there," the man said before leaving me be.

I merely nodded. I couldn't say that I hoped that he make it too, because it probably won't happen. Honestly, my chances of survival is also very slim. The only reason I'm able to dodge so many opportunities to die, is because of my group.

I know it sounds cruel, but it's true. I always hope that I could hide behind another person whenever death tried to strike. And by now, it's an instinct for me to think this way.

It happened the day when A got swallowed by the water dragon. I was devastated and in mourning for him a week after he died. The moment when he died, I couldn't feel anything, but gratitude that it wasn't me that day.

What's wrong with me? These were the first signs of my later corruptness. I couldn't help but feel these feelings. Until some people came along to make me appreciate fellow survivors in less selfish ways.

* * *

 **There we go! And done! So next chapter, we're going to see some very important OCs I made up, but are tied back pretty closely to the cast of FT. I hope you guys are enjoying this fic.**

 **If you do enjoy.**

 **Please follow, favourite, and REVIEW PEOPLE!**


	4. LB and Dany

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, just this fanfic and my OCs.**

 **It's been too long since I've updated on this fanfic. I've been working on my Yuri on Ice mainly so I guess I kind of left this one behind, but not to worry folks. I've made the entire plot outline for this story. I know everything that's going to happen in this story, it's just a matter of making it into actually readable chapters with dialogue and everything.**

 **So yeah. Oh and thank you so much to Svane Vulfbad for your amazing review! Honestly, when I first started this fanfic, I was hoping for someone like that to comment! And after some time when nobody was really showing any interest, your review came up. You have no idea how inspired I felt after reading it!**

 **It was like I had the power to finish this entire story in that moment. Thank you again, so much!**

 **As usual, please favourite, follow, and review if you haven't already!**

* * *

 **Ch. 4: LB and Dany**

 _One week after splitting the group._

"Hey, kid! Don't go near that area, you'll get stuck in the mud!" The same blonde guy from last time called.

I obeyed and walked away from the area the man was referring to. It's been one week since we started traveling to the Safe-Zone, and so far, we've only lost two people to dragon ambushes.

Which is not too bad, considering the hell I've been through years ago.

A smaller boy that looked around my age suddenly ran up behind the blonde guy. He also had the same blonde hair as him, and I could see some resemblance. I wondered why as I watched the boy jump up onto the older guy's back, hitting him.

"What do you think you're doing, Kurt? Giving out orders like that? I know that there's no mud there! You just want to exercise your authority!" The boy yelled.

I walked in on their conversation since it was involving me as well.

"Was he really just bossing me around?" I asked.

The boy nodded at me, "Sorry. Kurt here is my older brother, along with Volt over there."

He pointed in the direction of another blonde guy at the front of the group, helping an older woman walk. I blinked in confusion,

 _They were brothers?_

"But Kurt is the oldest out of the three of us. And he thinks that he can be the head of this little branch of our family! Don't let him get to you!" The boy laughed as he pulled Kurt's hair.

I laughed as Kurt fought back and threw his little brother down from his back. But he wasn't hurt, instead, he got right back up and tried to tackle Kurt down again. It was cute seeing them like that. But then Kurt held out his hand to stop it.

"Alright, alright, bro! That's enough. We're reaching some new territory up ahead, the chief's gonna need me again for directions," Kurt said before running up to the front.

The little boy sighed and walked with his hands resting behind his head. I smiled at him and he caught me in the act of it.

"I've seen you around for awhile back in the old group. You kind of stick out from the other kids our age. I mean—I didn't see anyone who seemed like your guardian," the boy admitted.

My face fell. I wished he didn't say that.

"I had guardians once. But that was long time ago by now…" I mumbled.

"Let me guess. The dragons got them," the boy answered in a sympathetic tone.

I sighed, "Can we not talk about this?"

"No. My brothers told me that if someone's hurting, it's better to talk about it with someone who feels the same," the boy said.

"And you think that you feel the same?" I questioned curiously.

The boy nodded slowly and a look of pain passed by on his young face.

"You're not the only who lost people, you know? All of us. We've all lost a lot. But we're still here, and we're going to support each other!"

I looked at his gleaming eyes. He was shining so bright...just like A…

Finally, I let up.

"Alright, I get it...but first. Can I ask you your name?"

* * *

 _One month later._

We made it to the edge of the dunes, which according to Kurt, should be the last stretch of territory before we hit the coast of the this continent.

And from there, we could finally start building a raft that would take us to the western continent.

I looked over at the boy, who calls me his "best friend" now. I have to admit, we did get considerably closer over the last month, though he did most of the closing in on our relationship than I did.

I was afraid, to be honest.

Afraid and hurt.

This boy...he's so similar to A...and I didn't want to lose him too. But the similarities was what caused me to allow him to make a mark on my life. It's only human to want to be close to another human.

But he was more than similar in personality with A. They both had the sweet, round, adorable face, and the warm smile. And they were both shorter than me!

But what struck me most of all was the fact that he didn't know his name...just like A.

One month ago, when I asked for his name. He couldn't tell me it, so I told him mine first.

Ever since then, I only called him "bro," like what his two older brothers call him. Kurt calls me "squirt," instead of "kid," but Volt calls me by my actual name.

I liked them, they were fun to be around and best of all, they knew how to survive.

"Our family is called 'Dreyar.' That's all I know about my name. My mother died when birthing me, and the rest of my family didn't want to give me a name out of respect for her. Anyways, our family is from the southern plains. Do you know that place?" my best friend asked me.

"No, I don't."

I hardly knew about any other place other than the places I've been to with my group.

"Well, it's well-known for its thunderstorms. But my ancestors managed to find a way to live underneath all of the rain, hail, and lightning. And because of that, we lived there for years. Until…"

"Dragons, right?" I finished.

"That's right. One dragon found a way to work its magic around the lightning and took over our homeland. The members who did survive made it out, but we eventually divided into our separate ways and many of us were killed. My brothers and I...we made it this far...but there are more of us out there…"

"Hey, um. I've been wanting to ask you for awhile. What's a 'brother'?" I was almost embarrassed to ask.

My mom told me back when I was little, that I had many half-brothers and half-sisters out in the world, but I never asked for what it those words specifically meant.

"A brother? Well, let's see. A brother is a boy or man that is related to you by blood. Which means that you share the same mom and dad. But there's also more to that. A brother can also be someone who's got this really strong bond with you, an unbreakable bond. No fight nor argument can destroy their friendship," he explained.

I was in awe. That's the first time I've heard what 'brother' meant. And I felt something stir within me. It was a new feeling.

What's a good term for describing it? Happiness? Ambition? Curiosity? Maybe a mix of all three.

"I think I understand now. So that's a brother...hey, so does that make you my brother?" I asked.

"Haha! What makes you say that?" My best friend laughed.

"Well, you did say that a brother can also be someone who's got this really strong bond with. And we have a strong bond, right?" I was sure of it. We've been through a lot over the past month.

Lack of food, water, and nights spent in vulnerable areas. But I managed to make it through all of it, and so did my best friend.

"Yeah. We do. To be honest, I think you're a brother to me too! Well, you do look a little older. Oh! I can't believe I haven't asked you this long time ago! How old are you?" He asked.

I quickly looked at the little book I've been keeping with me to count the days since I was born.

Its something all the survivors try and keep, the only thing that helps us keep track of how long this apocalypse has been going on for.

"I'm fourteen years old. How about you?"

"Mmm. So you really are older than me. I'm thirteen years old."

I smiled, knowing what to call my best friend now.

"So, you're my little brother?"

"Eh. Little brother is too much to say for a name. Just imagine calling me when we're playing hide-and-seek. LITTLE BROTHER! LITTLE BRROOTTHHEERR!" He doubled over with laughter.

"Ok, ok. How about LB? Stands for 'little brother,' is that better?" I suggested.

He nodded with joy, "LB it is! LB Dreyar! Hey, I like the sound of that! Let's go tell Kurt and Volt, I have a name!"

* * *

 _Two weeks later. West coast of Ishgar._

The last two weeks were slightly happier than the past several months we've been traveling for. Maybe it was because I finally gave my best friend a name. LB Dreyar...that's who he is now. Kurt and Volt liked the sound of that too!

It was during this time that I got to see a different side of LB. A much more serious side. LB was a big-hearted person, and that came with needs for vengeance.

"And one day...we'll make the dragons pay for what they've done!" LB cried in a serious voice.

That was the first time I've seen him out of his happy-go-lucky personality. I didn't know what to respond to that, so I just kept silent and smiled at him.

"They took away our homes, our food, our family...and we just keep saying, 'our next generation will be stronger than our last,' but to what extent!? We _are_ the next generation! I'm not going to let this apocalypse continue on for another decade after my death! I'm going to do something about it. While I'm still living and breathing!" LB clenched his fist tightly, his eyes glowing like a spark of lightning.

That almost got me worked up. Almost. But reality washed back over me. There's no way we'd be able to fight back against the dragons in the state we are in right now. It'd be a one-sided annihilation, no wait...it already is! But I know one thing for sure.

I'm not about to let anyone else within my radar die in front of me again! Not LB! Not anybody! So I tried to talk some sense into him.

"If you want to that. You're going to have beat me in the height department first." I teased.

"Hey! I'm growing! My brothers said so! 'Sides, strength isn't the only thing you need in order to beat the dragons. Intellect is important too! And I'm proud to say, I've already learned how to add numbers up to 50!" LB exclaimed.

My jaw dropped to the ground. "Are you serious? Hey, that's not fair! You actually have teachers in that stuff!"

LB smiles victoriously. "Yes. And other than that— _gasp_! Omigosh, look!"

My eyes followed LB's little finger pointing up ahead of us. The entire group stopped walking too. LB and I ran up to the front where his brothers were with the chief. The afternoon sun shone brightly in the sky, making the entire scene look even more spectacular.

In front of us, was a large stretch of yellow ground that blended from the green grass on one side and leads to the large endless body of water on the other side. It was the biggest thing I've ever seen...that body of water.

"So these things really do exist…" I heard the chief whisper. "The ocean…"

"And on the other side of the ocean, is the Western continent," Kurt adds. "The Safe-Zone is there somewhere."

"Well then, let's start building the raft!" The chief hollers.

With that, everyone begins sprinting downhill towards the sandy yellow beach. We all wanted to feel how the ocean felt like. LB pushed me to the ground to get a heads start.

"Try and beat me, slowpoke!" He laughed.

"That was a nasty trick, LB!" I caught up to him easily.

And it was a good thing that I caught up to him easily. Because if I were a tiny bit later, I would've lost him. The fireball literally came a millisecond after I smelled it.

"LB!" I cried as I pushed him down to the ground with my body. The fireball crashed into the area behind us, exploding and pushing all of the nearby survivors away from its radius. That was only the droplet of the huge storm that came seconds later.

The sky that once looked hopeful, bright, and blue, changed to a dreary red and orange colour. More fireballs fell from the sky as I helped a shocked and wide-eyed LB back to his feet. The heat of the air around us was scorching.

"FIRE DRAGONS!" A nearby man cried right before he was reduced to ashes by an incoming fireball.

That was enough to make me and LB begin running. More fireballs came down around us like rain, the yells and screams of survivors from our group filled our ears, the only thing cooling was the wind from the flapping of the fire dragons' wings.

I could see two—no three of them—all fiery red and smirking. They weren't eating any of the people they've killed, no...they almost looked like...like they were just killing them for pleasure!

My hands shook with fear and hatred, and LB must've felt the same same, otherwise, he wouldn't have suddenly stopped running and turn around to glare at one of the dragons chasing after a few other survivors with those lightning-struck eyes.

I stopped running to, but only to get LB to start running again. I pulled him by the arms, but he won't budge. I turned him around to see his face. Despite all the heat, fire, smoke, and ashes, I could still make out the tear streaks that ran down his cheeks.

"LB, we have to run!" I shouted above the screams of the other survivors.

"I'm not leaving them behind! The Dreyars have lost everything but this hope! I'm not running away!"

"You'll never make it!" I practically screamed in his ear.

"LET GO OF ME! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BROTHERS!" LB begins ripping my fingers off of his forearm.

But I was stronger than him. Both mentally and physically. "YES! I DO! AND I'M NOT LEAVING HIM BEHIND RIGHT NOW, WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT! NOW COME ON!"

I brought up my other hand and performed a quick chop to LB's wrists, slightly disabling it for the time being. He cried in pain and stopped fighting back. That was my chance to pull him away from the horrible field of fire and death.

It was like a game of dodgeball. Except in this game. If you're hit, you're not 'out.' You're dead. I ran through the scorched ground and around the burnt corpses of many people who have already been outed.

Eventually, LB stopped being a difficult runner and began to pick up his pace as well. Fireballs continued to rain down around us, people continued to be burnt alive around us and their screams continued to fill the air.

A young woman appeared out of nowhere and bumped headfirst into me. The fire dragon that chasing her grabbed her by the hair and threw her away behind him, letting her fall to her death. I yanked LB away from the dragon right before he diverted his attention to us.

The fire dragon began chasing after the two of us, spewing out fireballs and setting the ground in front of us on fire to prevent us from running too far ahead.

"Not good, not good, not good!" I cried as my grip on LB's forearm tightened even more.

He and I swiveled our heads around in panic, trying to find a place—anyplace where we could probably hide. And suddenly it came to us.

A large open hole with a rocky entrance that seemed like some kind of small cave. I forced LB and myself to switch directions towards that little cave of hope. The fire dragon also saw our motive and increased the intensity of his chase.

I saw that the dragon was closing in on us a bit too much, so I let go of LB and shoved him in front of me, constantly pushing him ahead of me. The cave's entrance was really close by now...almost there…

The fire dragon opens his mouth to prepare to devour both me and LB, but we made it to the entrance of the cave. I pushed LB into the entrance first right before I followed from behind. A second after that, all the rocks and debris fell down from the top and blocked the light from outside.

LB and I tripped from our rushed entrance and fell face first to the hard ground at the bottom of the small cave. That impact rendered the both of us unconscious.

* * *

 _Hours later._

I opened eyes slightly to the darkness around me, pushing myself up, I looked around and remembered about what just happened.

"LB…LB!"

LB was unconscious on his side right next to me. I began shaking him gently because I was afraid if he was already injured. LB stirred around and also woke up.

He looked at me with weak eyes. "What happened?"

"Remember? The dragons attacked us out of nowhere and we ran away from them. We're safe for now, LB." I supported his weak body against mine.

LB smiled. "That's good...where's the rest of them... _gasp._ Kurt! Volt! They're still out there!"

He began squirming to get out of my grip and crawled towards the blocked exit of the small cave. "I—I have to go save them!"

I rushed next to LB and stopped him from pounding against the rocks and debris uselessly. "LB, stop! STOP IT!"

He began to cry. "It's all gone…"

I hugged him from behind and gently lead him away from the exit towards the very back of the small cave. We leaned against the rocky wall together and looked at the blocked exit with teary eyes.

"It's not all gone, LB, we're still here, right?" I squeezed him.

He curled up into a ball. "Yeah, I guess, but for how long? Will someone come for us?"

I thought hard. "Three days, we can live for that long without water. Someone'll come."

"I really hope so…"

* * *

 _Three days later._

LB and I were still trapped inside the small cave that once looked like a safe haven, now looked like our burial ground.

We have been trying for three days straight to get out of this cave, but our efforts proved to be futile. And with each passing day, we got weaker.

Until we literally can't even pick up a small rock. LB put his head on my shoulder as we snuggled next to each other for warmth. My vision was beginning to get hazy.

He coughed. "Are you still awake?"

I nodded. "How are you feeling?" I put my hand against his forehead, it felt cool.

"I'm really tired…" LB whispers.

It's been three days! And nobody came to find us yet! Why wouldn't they...wait a minute. Were there even any survivors left after that attack? Oh no...then at this rate, LB and I will…

LB Rome into a violent fit of coughs. I gently patted him on the back until he was gasping for air and wheezing. He wiped his mouth of any fluids that came out.

He snuggled closer to me. "Hey...if I die here…"

"Shut up. That's not happening."

"Well, _if_ I do...can you promise me one thing? Just one thing…" LB croaked. "Promise me that you'll make the dragons pay for what they've done one day. All of them. They need to be gone. I don't care if there are good ones out there! There's no such thing as a 'good dragon.' All of them...gone...please."

I pulled him closer to me. "Ok. I'll do it. Even if it takes my life, even if I'll endanger others around me, even if I'll become a villain...I'll do it."

LB smiled. "That doesn't matter, because even if you do...you'll still be a hero to all of us today…" With that LB closed his eyes.

My strength began fading as well. Not good. I have to stay awake. I must...I have to...my eyelids began falling as well.

 _Crumble! Shove! Crumble!_

The sound of debris and dirt falling and rocks being moved woke me up slightly. I turned my head upwards just as the single ray of sunlight stream in from a moved rock blocking the exit.

Standing right at the large opening, was a young girl that looked to be around LB's and my age. The sun shining brightly behind her, illuminating her bright red and messy hair that framed a shocked face, wide-eyed and jaw-dropped.

"Chief! I found some survivors!" She shouted right before leaping into the cave and running up to LB and me.

"Are you hurt? Hungry? Thirsty?" She asked while checking me for any major injuries. I shook my head in reply.

"What about him? Is he still alive?" She gestured to LB. I put two fingers under his neck for a pulse. My heart stopped racing when I felt one. I nodded to the girl.

She picked LB up and carried him on her back. "Can you walk? I can help you out of here, sort of. Here, just lean against me."

I did as I was told and slowly, bit by bit, we made it out of the cave. The area outside was bright and the air was fresh. The wind felt so amazing against my body. All the grass and trees were gone, thanks to the dragons, but nonetheless, the area still looked beautiful with their absence.

More people ran up to the red-haired girl, wrapping LB and me with warm blankets and carrying us towards the coast. Before we were carried away by those new people, I asked the girl for her name.

"Hey, what's your name…?"

She tightened the blanket wrapped around me and looked at me with fierce yet gentle eyes. "I'm Dainera Belserion. You're going to be fine."

I could barely get my tongue around her name. "Dine...er...a…? Dinera. Sorry."

"Dany. Call me Dany for short, 'kay? Tell that to your buddy over there too. I'll come running to your aid if you call me. Promise."

I nodded there's no way I'll ever forget about her. The one who rescued LB and me from the brink of death. Our savior and friend. "Dany...thank you for saving us...thank you…"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading guys! So yeah, there's my two OCs tying Acno back to the MCs of the Fairy Tail guild. Just a heads up, the majority of the story is heavily inspired by AoT, so credit goes to that for anything that used concepts from that anime/manga.**

 **Please favourite, follow, and review! (I'm not sure when the next chapter will come, but I'll work on it. If I'm putting this on hiatus, I WILL leave an author's note.)**


	5. Traveling West

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. All of that belongs to Hiro Mashima. I only own the idea for this fanfiction. Enjoy!**

 **Sorry, it's been awhile, guys. I had other things to worry about including other fanfiction I write on this account. But when I saw the ending scene from the movie, Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, I suddenly felt motivated to continue in this backstory again.**

 **I'd like to shine more light on Acnologia's character. Give him a proper story instead of just making it about him and some other main characters from Fairy Tail. Not here. I want to give him his own story. To give him the events of his life that led him to his downfall as the Dragon King.**

 **And there will be no connections to people like Zeref, Anna, or Natsu in this story. Maybe in the one after this one. But not in this one.**

 **Anyways, I worked very hard on this chapter. This isn't something I just finished overnight or within a week.**

 **So please show some support by giving it a FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW if you liked it!**

 **It's always appreciated! :)**

 **I'm starting to feel very happy with myself. I made this backstory for Acnologia detailing his past with dragons and the people he lost, back in 2016. I was in grade 10 back then. Fairy Tail ended around 2017 and the film Dragon Cry came out in 2017 too.**

 **Both of those canon Fairy Tail works kind of shows that Acnologia only knew the bad side of dragons, which pretty much proves that my backstory is pretty accurate. (Maybe not to you guys, because you haven't read the entire story yet. But I have the entire story mapped out from beginning to end on my computer, and I know when I see something similar to it.)**

 **Yay for me! :D**

* * *

 **Ch. 5: Traveling West**

 _West coast of Ishgar._

It's been five days since LB and I were rescued from the cave. LB is conscious and healthy now, but after we found out about what happened to the majority our previous group, including his two brothers, LB went into a state of depression.

I tried to comfort him during that time but he would only nod and stay silent at whatever I said. I realize that he needs to be left alone, but be given the feeling of someone looking after him.

I went through the same back then when I lost my mother. I felt like I was stuck in one place while time continued to move around me like a speeding river. I felt like I was about to drown.

And several nights, I thought above throwing myself into a lake or over a cliff. But I couldn't do it. Because I wasn't brave enough or tough enough to do it. And I was afraid of the pain that might come.

People say that if you've really given up on life, suicide would be painless. But since I'm afraid of the pain caused by self-harm, I guess I haven't given up on life yet. Suicide isn't worth it to me. And it shouldn't be to anybody.

So I stopped comforting LB and instead made sure he's eating, sleeping, and knowing that I'm right here for him. While I was doing that, I also began getting to know the girl who rescued us, Dainera Belserion, Dany for short, better.

Her group rescued my group, as much as they could anyway, from the fire dragons. And now, we've integrated as one group. All working together under the chief to build a boat large enough to support all of us and our supplies to get across the sea and to the Western Continent. Where we will hopefully find the Safe-Zone.

"How's your little brother doing?" Dany asked as we carried several large branches for the builders on the shore.

"He's not really my brother, I just call him that. LB for short." I explained. "And, _sigh_. He's going through a tough time. But I'm sure he'll make it through. And until then, I'll be waiting for him."

Dany looked at LB in the distance, sitting by himself, helping with gathering herbs and berries. "I'm sorry for your losses. I lost most of my family too. Though we're a pretty big family, I'm sure I'll see more of them as we travel."

"You don't know everyone in your family?" I asked.

"I only knew my closest family members. Like my parents, my older brothers and sister. But all of us Belserions know the head of our family, Irene. I know that she's the great leader of a large place somewhere."

"Like maybe the Safe-Zone?"

Dany shrugs. "Who knows? Anyways, there's another Belserion man in this group, but I'm not really close to him. We only acknowledge each other. So the way you really care for that LB over there despite not being related by blood really makes me feel glad."

I nodded and offered a tiny smile. We reached the shores where most of the construction of the boat was taking place. The strongest and most skilled people of Dany's group were putting wood together and cutting them to make it fit.

A few others kept on watch, making sure that no dragons will come all of a sudden, like those fire dragons.

The boat itself was looking pretty good. I didn't think it would be possible. From the start, the boat looked more like a giant cut down tree with its branches stripped.

But now.

It looks like an object that can protect us from the waters of this sea separating us from our destination. I have to admit, I'm impressed. It's amazing how we can do this when we put our hearts and efforts into it. If we directed this kind of attitude towards the dragons, we could probably defeat them!

"Thanks, kids." A builder said as he picked up the branches we left on the already giant pile. "We're running low on rations. It would be really helpful if you went out with some rangers to get more food."

"Sure, of course!" Dany answered.

She ran towards the main camp where her sleeping shelter was. Bending down, she grabs her signature weapon. It was a long curved wooden object with a string that you could pull back. I looked at it in awe.

She caught sight of my staring. "It's called a 'bow.'" She picks up a worn-down bag nearby and tosses it to me.

I looked inside. It was full of daggers, spears, and all kinds of objects you could use to kill. This girl was prepared for almost anything!

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention," Dany suddenly added. "We Belserions are known for our weapons and armor. But I like weapons way more. It's more helpful to me."

"I see…"

"You don't wield weapons much?"

I shook my head. "Only when I have to. I was mostly taught how to escape and hide from dragons. My group focused on our body's physical abilities and five senses. That's what keeps us alive. Weapons don't work well against dragons."

"I don't use them against dragons." Dany corrected. "They're for people. Bad people. Oh, and hunting too!"

Our conversation ended there. I didn't know what to say after Dany explained to me that her weapons were meant to harm other humans. Our own flesh and blood. To be honest, I never paid much attention or were really close to the other members of my own group.

I couldn't tell which ones were good or bad. I could only tell which ones I knew and which ones I liked to be around. My mother for one. Then my first best friend, A. My new friend, LB. And now, Dany as well.

Dany told a bunch of other rangers in the area to gather more food from the nearby forest, then she began leading me to her part of the forest. The part where she usually hunts.

Before we left the main camp, I looked around to make sure LB was still amongst them. I could see him helping some older people fix up their night shelters. I smiled at that.

"You really care for him," Dany observed.

"I lost people important to me. And so did he. But I'm not about to lose him too." I looked at LB's smiling face as he continued to help out around the camp. "He's a big-hearted person and so strong-willed. Those past days when he was burying his head in his arms, was the only time I ever saw him look so down. He's a 'never-giver-upper,' and that might get him killed one day."

"How so?" Dany asked.

"He wants to get rid of the dragons. ALL of the dragons. In this generation." I shook my head and looked up to the sky.

"I wanted to say that's stupid. But I wouldn't mind the thought of the dragons being gone, it's just that...when they are gone, I want LB and everyone I care about to be with me to celebrate. What do you think, Dany?"

I lowered my eyes from the sky and looked behind me. Dany was gone. "Dany?"

I looked in front of me. And there was Dany, running with her bow strung across her back, towards the camp. Towards LB. I ran after her.

Dany stopped in front of LB, who finished helping a mother and her young child stitching up her cloak. LB looked at her and smiles. "Hi, you're Dainera right? You're the one who saved and me and A—"

"That's me, alright." Dany interrupted. "I'm happy you still remembered. You're LB."

LB nodded eagerly. "And?"

I caught up to Dany and stopped in front of LB, my breath barely needed catching. LB jumped onto me, giving me a suffocating hug. I fell to the ground on my bottom, but I couldn't feel the pain. I was too happy to see LB so happy again.

"You're back!" I laughed.

"What you mean?" LB asked. "I've always been here!"

We continued to hug until Dany gave us a slight kick that rolled us over. She hiked the bow up onto her back and looked down at us.

"LB we're going to get some food in the forest. Come along." She nodded in the direction of the forest.

LB gets to his feet. "Sure."

* * *

 _Inside the forest._

Dany expertly leads us through her usual hunting trail. LB and I kept up with her easily. But so far, we haven't come across any food yet.

"What should we be looking for?" LB asked.

"Wild fruits are the best option. They're small and come in large quantities." I said. "And, they're easy to carry."

"Yeah, but meat can keep a grown man full for weeks!" Dany countered.

"If we're lucky!" LB cried excitedly.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach at the mention of meat. Memories of that time when I was twelve, when my entire group was starving, when those three suppliers killed several members of our own group so the rest of us won't starve to death.

After that event, well I didn't really have much of an appetite for meat. But if LB and Dany were so insistent on hunting, then I'll just play along.

We continued to trek across the forest, keeping all of our senses at maximum level to ensure we won't be ambushed by a dragon or end up in a dangerous location.

As we trekked, we came across berry bushes, herbal roots, and best of all, an apple tree!

I almost yelled in joy when I saw those large round red fruits dangling on several branches from the distance. Dany was shocked, this was her first time seeing apples.

"W—what are those?" She asked.

"Apples, Dany!" LB cried. "They're sweet and full of liquids, and you can plant more of them!"

"Really!?"

I started climbing up the tree from the main trunk. "Well, it'll take years for the tree to grow. We'll be long gone before it becomes a tree like this."

I swung onto one of the branches and started picking apples and throwing them down for LB and Dany to catch in their bags.

Pretty soon, their bags became full and heavy. LB looked at me and crossed his arms. "No fair, I'd like to pick some too!"

"Climb up!" I gestured.

"You get down first!" LB shouted as he began scaling the trunk. "I want to go to your branch, but I don't want it to crack under me!"

I jumped down and landed casually on the ground. Dany thrust my empty bag in my face. "Your turn to catch those large heavy apples."

LB began releasing apples two at a time down towards me. I ran back and forth to catch all of them in my bag.

"Hey, you'd better hurry up!" Dany laughed. "We don't want to waste a single good apple!"

"LB, slow down!" I cried as I dove down onto the dirt to catch an apple that nearly fell all the way down.

LB shook his head. "Nah, we need to hurry up, this method is great!"

The branch LB was on was slowly becoming empty of apples. As I was nearing the end of catching apples, along with my bag's capacity, I caught something large and brown from the corner of my eye.

"Hey! What's tha—"

 _Zip!_

Before I could finish my question, Dany had already loaded an arrow into her bow and released it at that large brown creature. But the creature dodged it and began running away.

LB jumped down from the branch to get a closer look. Dany shook her head in annoyance and quickly picked up her stuff.

"Come on, guys!" She cried as she began running after her prey.

LB and I didn't waste a second with picking up our bags and running after Dany. All three of us chased after that mysterious creature that by now, I got a better look at.

It was large, brown and furry. It ran on four legs but what shocked me most of all, were the two large branch like objects on either side of its head. It looked so majestic that way. Like a crown.

LB took out a spear from the bag of weapons Dany lent him and threw it towards the creature's hind legs. It managed to scratch its leg but the wound wasn't deep enough to cause it stop running altogether.

While LB was aiming his spear at the creature, Dany began reloading her bow and ran ahead of us, she stopped short and aimed her bow at the creature's head.

Suddenly, I heard something coming from up ahead. It wasn't a dragon, but something else. I got the feeling that there is something interesting lying ahead.

"Dany!" I cried.

Dany released her bow right after, her arrow missed the creature due to my calling her name. The creature did a right turn, which was the direction where I heard the sound come from.

"Guys, wait," I commanded. "There's something ahead. I can hear it. We have to be careful."

LB and Dany looked at me in confusion. _Did they not hear it?_ I decided to be more straightforward and clear.

"Weapons away." I gestured as I tied up the bag Dany gave me.

They did as I told them. Then I began leading through the forest in the direction that creature ran off in. We ran after its tracks and scent it left behind.

"That creature…what is it?" I asked.

"A moose," Dany explained. "They're rarely seen now thanks to dragons hunting and eating them, leaving us starving."

"What did you hear?" LB asked.

"I'll see it for myself soon enough."

Before long, the three of us got to the end of the moose's trail. Up ahead, we could see more sunlight streaming in from outside. The sound became clear.

I could hear it. I could smell it too. "Guys, it's rushing water!"

We ran ahead without thinking and into the opening that exited the tree-covered forest and into the sunlight.

We stood on a large rocky platform edge that falls into a beautiful valley below us. Next to us in the rocks, was a large waterfall, that fed the river down below.

LB, Dany, and I opened our eyes wide. This place was beautiful. The moose we were just hunting removed the spear from its hind leg and jumped into the river.

There were several more animals there too. All were living happily together, some even looked like families. The sound of chirping filled our ears, the sound of freedom.

Dany sighed. "You see, you two? This is what our lives would look like if we get rid of the dragons one day."

LB squeezed his fists tight. "Not one day. This generation, we _will_ get rid of them."

I was about to open my mouth to complain, but LB beat me to talking. "Don't you think it's worth the risk? Look, those animals are free because the dragons didn't touch this area."

I looked at the valley once again. The moose came out of the river and a smaller version of the moose ran up to it. The large moose nuzzled its mouth. Parent and child…

Tears filled my eyes as memories of my mother and me sharing the same shelter every night and her holding me close returned to me.

I let those tears fall. "Yeah, it's worth it. Just make sure, you two will be there so all three of us can live like this. In freedom."

"'Course we will!" LB cried.

"Make sure _you'll_ be there too!" Dany reminded.

* * *

 _Several days later…_

It took a long time, and a lot of hard work and sweat, and dangerous sleepless nights, but we did it. All of the builders, the watchers, the suppliers and rangers, we did it. We finished making the boat.

And it looked so beautiful too. I thought that it'd look like a bunch of sticks and branches tied together, but no. It was well built and strongly tied together, we had areas for us to sit down and lots of room to sleep. We even had a place to store our food, weapons, and other supplies.

In fact, we even had a sail! Several members of the group complained that the sail would take too long to build, and we should just rely on the current of the sea and our own oars to travel. But the chief insisted.

It lengthened the time of building the boat, but it was worth it. In the end, we finished the sail thanks to LB and all the other people who knew how to weave fabric, and the people who were strong enough to balance and fix the large hollow tree trunk in the middle of the boat where we would mast the sail onto.

The moment of truth came when we all worked together to push the boat into the water one early morning, right as the sun was rising on the horizon.

At first, I thought that the boat would be too heavy to stay afloat, and all of our hard work would be for nothing. But as soon as we got to the waist deep water, my fears all cleared away. The boat was floating above on top, albeit a few waves managed to lap into the insides, but that was to be expected.

Immediately, the chief climbed onto the boat and stood inside, jumping up and down to find any weak spots or areas that may sink deeper than usual. Everything was fine. We covered the wood in tar from the forest to make it waterproof.

"Alright!" The chief shouted. "Get everyone to bring their rations, weapons, wood, water, and anything that's needed! We're leaving today!"

"Yyyaaahhhh!" We all cheered.

I ran back to shore and hugged LB and Dany, knocking them onto their backs in the sand. We all laughed and rolled around.

Finally, things were becoming hopeful. We'll get to the safe zone. I know we will.

* * *

 _Days after setting sail from the Eastern Continent coast._

It has been 21 days since we left the coast, and we haven't seen any signs of land yet. Which was beginning to concern me. But at least we haven't been attacked by any hunting dragons yet.

Actually, according to a certain man in our group, most dragons don't travel between continents unless absolutely necessary. So it's rare to see a dragon across the ocean. A good thing for us.

However, during this time, we were slowly draining our supplies of food and water, which was worrying the chief.

He made an announcement to everyone this morning in fact.

"From now on, women and children under 12 will be given a quarter of the rations. The rest of us will eat every two days!"

Nobody tried to complain. A sign that this group is pretty darn stable. I was impressed. All of the groups I was a part of were full of people who only looked out for themselves. They say that they have each other's backs, but that's not true.

Which is kind of how I learned rule number of surviving, prioritize your life. And your life only.

But now. I'm starting to feel like there are other people's lives I need to prioritize too. My new friends, LB Dreyar and Dainera 'Dany' Belserion.

Especially LB, though.

Recently, he's come down with some kind of sickness. It isn't fatal or anything, but he's been coughing a lot and he is burning up with a fever.

Today, he's so weak that he couldn't eat his rations on his own. I had to carry him in my arms while Dany helped feed him but by bit. I felt the heat of his body and the wetness of his sweat against me.

There were only two ways out of this. One. We arrive at the Western Continent and find some herbs for LB. Two. We negotiate with the chief to spare some of the very little amounts of medicine we have now. But that's highly unlikely.

 _Cough! Cough!_

LB coughed out some of the bread Dany fed him, she quickly caught the pieces in her tunic and wrapped them in her pocket. We don't let anything go to waste.

"Sorry, fellas," LB croaked. "I'll try and swallow. Promise."

I shook my head. "Don't strain yourself, LB. If you can't. You can't. We'll save it for later. You're going to have to eat it today. Gotta keep up the strength."

Dany felt LB's forehead with her hand, a look of concern washed over her face. "He needs more than just food. He needs the white roots. It's in our supplies."

"Wait, Dany!" I cried. "You can't just steal it! We'll get pushed off this boat!"

Her resolve didn't break. "I'm not letting LB bite the dust. Not after I saved him and you from death in that cave." She gave a small smile. "Don't worry, I won't steal."

My eyes followed her to the other side of the raft, where I could barely catch a glimpse of her pushing her way through a group of people before completely disappearing.

LB wheezed as he tried to exhale. I gave him an encouraging smile which he returned with an even brighter smile. I thought about all those times back then, when I was still with my previous group.

All those times when someone died right in front of my eyes. When a dragon came out of nowhere and snatched another person from my group. Old, young, boy, or girl. We're all just food to them.

But what bothered me especially was how little I felt for those people when they died. Everyone's except for my mom's and A's deaths didn't make much of a difference in my life.

That's because I was a survivor. I detached myself from others to try and survive. But that didn't mean I became entirely heartless.

I craved for human contact. I wanted to have friends. More than anything I want to go back in time and just save that moment right before A died. We were having fun in that moment. A playful fun that I may never get again.

LB saw how silent I became. "Hey, you alright?"

I looked down at him. "Yeah. Just thinking."

"If we ever get to shore?"

"Not really."

"Oh? _Cough_. Then what were you thinking about?"

I sighed. "How weak I've become."

LB lets out a strained laugh. " _Cough._ Is it because of me? Sorry, but no-can-do-about-it! _Cough_. I'm not ever letting you stop caring about me. But you know…just because you actually have people to worry about. Doesn't make you weak." LB tries to sit up more against me. "I had lots of people to worry about back then, and I'm still here. I still think about my brothers though, Kurt and Volt? And that surviving in this world isn't just about keeping yourself alive. If you want to survive, you can't do it alone."

LB turned around to face me, his smile was gone, but his hopefulness isn't. I put my hand on top of his head.

"I got your back. You got mine. And now Dany got both of ours."

"And we got hers."

"We're all here to help each other," Dany suddenly appeared before us. In her hands was a piece of white root and a bowl of water.

She kneeled in front of LB and crushed some of the roots and mixed it in the water. "Here, LB. I managed to get the chief to give you a small portion of our medicine."

LB accepted the bowl from her and slowly drank it, ignoring the bitter taste of the liquid. I looked at Dany in shock.

"How did you do that?"

"I gave up a few of my rations for the next few days." Dany quickly assured us before we could complain. "I was given extra rations last week because one of the grown-ups here felt bad for me. So I'm not going to starve easily."

LB finishes the medicine and hands back the bowl to Dany. "Still, that must've been hard, negotiating with the chief."

"I'd do it again if I had to," Dany said gently. "I'd do it for anyone important to me."

"You're like the sister I never had," LB remarked.

I looked at him in confusion. LB quickly explained to me. "Like brother, except it's a girl."

I nodded in understanding. "Then you're my sister too!"

* * *

 _One week later._

I woke up to the sound of several people shouting in the morning. LB and Dany woke up too, LB was all better from his sickness by now.

I stood up to see what the commotion was all about. Opening my eyes, I squinted at the sight in the distance. In the early morning sun, I could barely make out the small yellow shoreline. But it was there. No doubt about it.

"We did it!" Everyone shouted.

"We made it!"

Minutes later, we got closer to shore and a few of us jumped out of the boat, including me and my friends, to helps bring it up to the beach.

After that, everyone else got out from the boat. Our chief grabbed a large stick and stuck it upright in the sand in front of our boat.

"A reminder of our success. And that we're going to find that Safe-Zone!"

Everyone applauded this time, we were on land now. And that means dragons are here too. We may have made it across the ocean, but now, we have to make it past part two of our journey.

* * *

 _Days later._

We've been trekking through forests for the past couple of days. But nobody got taken away by dragons. It's strange really, we hardly smelled any dragon since we got to this continent.

Were there even any dragons here to begin with? But no matter, we still need to keep our senses sharp, just in case.

Walking through the forest with the group, I constantly kept a lookout in the skies above instead of just relying on my nose. After all, LB and Dany were walking right beside me. And they were doing the same thing. We're not letting anything happen to any one of us.

Suddenly we stopped walking. A few people bumped into the people in the front and others tripped over tree roots. The chief at the front told everyone to come out slowly.

We did as ordered.

And eventually, I saw what the chief and the people at the front of the group saw. We were in a large clearing from the forest.

But what really struck me was the dozens of wooden shelters around the place. That and the dozens of small black crystals of different shapes and sizes scattered all over the ground.

One of the men picked up a crystal and examined it closely.

"Dragon summoners." He gasped.

"What?" I asked aloud.

Suddenly someone screamed. We all ran to the location where it came from. One of the rangers was behind the largest wooden shelter. He was on his bottom and pointed at the thing in front of him.

I nearly screamed too.

In front of us, was a large but immobile dragon. It had large gaping holes in its body and its skin seemed to be flapping in the breeze. It appeared dead.

The same man who examined the crystal came forward and looked at the back of the dragon's neck. A large tear was there.

"No doubt about it. This is an abandoned village of dragon summoners."

I stepped forward. "What are dragon summoners?"

* * *

 **And that's the end of this chapter. Sorry to leave you guys on a cliffhanger, but I promise I'll be releasing the next chapter. Just not very soon. But it'll come out eventually. In fact, I'm surprised to see that I haven't lost any favourites or followers on this story! You guys must be the few that really dig Acno's past.**

 **I don't know, it's hard getting attention for a story that doesn't contain much fluff or uses anything that is 'fanfiction-popular.' But I'm glad to see that you guys like this story!**

 **Please FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW if you enjoyed this chapter! :)**

 **Bye!**


	6. We made it

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima. I just take his ideas and stylize it a bit.**

 **I'm sorry guys about the long wait! I had so much school work to do and ever since the first semester finished, I got accepted to all but one of my universities! But that one university is something I still kind of want to go to, so I'm working really hard until midterms of the second semester, which comes up in two weeks!**

 **I've been working on this chapter during the minuscule free time I have, but don't worry. I DO intend on finishing this story. But my rate of updating is going to fluctuate and most of the time will be very slow.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! From the title of it, I think you should be able to guess what happened in here.**

 **I enjoy writing this story very much since Acnologia is one of my favourite characters and we know little to nothing about his past. This gives a great canvas to work on. I made the entire plot of his backstory two years ago and now, I'm turning them into individual chapters for you guys to read!**

 **Feel free to PM me with any questions you related to this story! (As long as you don't ask how it's going to end!)**

 **PLEASE FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW too! :D**

* * *

 **Ch. 6: We made it.**

"Dragon summoners," the man holding the crystal explained. "Are humans who are able to make a dragon body out of thin air and control it. They use these crystals to perform that sort of magic, and they control the body from the inside. From the back of the neck."

He gestures towards the large tear at the back of the neck region in the back of the empty dragon body. I remained silent. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Then…does that mean they're as strong as real dragons when they're in their dragon bodies?" I quickly asked. "Are they able to defeat real dragons using that power?"

The chief shook his head. "No. They can't defeat real dragons."

Now LB was shocked. "What? Why?"

The man holding the crystal put a hand on LB's shoulder. "Actually, they should be able to. The problem is, they don't want to. Instead, they target us, humans, instead. Killing their own kind…what kind of monsters do that?"

"They're worse than the dragons in my opinion," The chief added. "Dragons won't kill their own kind…according to our rangers at least."

We stuck around this village for the rest of the day to gather new supplies and go over our course of action. From here on out, our goal is to find the safe-zone. We're so close now. We can do it.

Night came and as usual, LB, Dany, and I made our night shelter and huddled together inside it. We couldn't sleep, unfortunately. We wanted to talk.

"I'd like to have that kind of power," LB whispered to me. He was sleeping on his stomach like always, though Dany said that it's bad for his neck.

I turned around to face him. We were all very close together. LB and Dany were on either side of me so I had to always be careful not to squish them in my sleep.

"The power of the dragon summoners?" I asked. "Do you think we could wield something like that?"

LB nodded. "Hey, if dragon summoners, who are humans like you and me, could do it. Why couldn't we?"

"Are you sure they're normal humans?" Dany asked, joining the conversation. I turned onto my back so that I can hear both of my friends equally. She turned on her side to face me and LB. "They kill other humans using that power. What if it's the power that makes them do that? Make them evil?"

"Good point," LB looked a little deflated, but not defeated. "But I can't think of anything else that can defeat a dragon other than the power of a dragon. All the mages are gone, so we can't find any magic solutions or spells that could be helpful."

"Dragons have magic too," I reminded LB. "Magic that is probably more powerful than anything regular mages had. So they wouldn't have helped much even if they're still here."

Dany sat up a tiny bit, shifting our attention to her. "Actually, not all the mages have died. I heard that there's a tiny kingdom back on the Eastern continent where mages are living and practicing magic. I think it's called Dragnof."

"That sounds almost as realistic as the safe-zone," I said. "How did you hear about this?"

"Members of the Belserion family communicate with each other…as much as we can. Apparently, the head of our family, Irene Belserion, is the leader there. Though, it's only rumours so I won't believe it too much," Dany explained. "Right now, I believe in the Safe-Zone."

"As do I," I agreed.

"Me too," LB replied. "And once we get there…"

"We'll think of a better way to get rid of the dragons," Dany finished.

* * *

 _Time skip - 1 month_

We travelled for so long and been through hard times. But we haven't had a single casualty since we got to the Western continent. It was almost relieving to see this.

I don't I've ever been in a group this long without losing a single person to the dragons, dehydration, starvation, or illness. Looks like the gods of the world have finally decided to smile down upon us.

Eventually, LB, Dany, and I all turned one year older.

Dany and I turned 14. LB turned 13.

We didn't want to waste time in our search for the Safe-Zone for a quick celebration so we celebrated it amongst ourselves by going out to collect some more sugar berries during the night.

Mmmhmm. I remember how tasty they were.

But that was weeks ago. And by now, we still haven't lost anyone but we still couldn't find the Safe-Zone. Something was wrong. I get that the Safe-Zone needs to stay hidden from the dragons, but if it's this hidden, how in the world can humans locate it as well?

We reached a large mountain passage that blocked our path. The chief wanted us to scale it so we could keep going. More than anyone in the group, the chief believed in the existence of the Safe-Zone.

"We still have daylight!" The chief encouraged the tired survivors. "I know that we're all exhausted, but we can't make a safe base here at the bottom of the slope. Look!"

He pointed at a large ledge up high above us. "We can climb up to that point and rest. Then, we'll call it a day."

We didn't groan or complain. The rangers quickly sniffed the air for any signs of wind dragons—our biggest threat when it comes to climbing mountains—but didn't detect any. So we started scaling the side of the mountain.

I was getting very tired. Unlike LB and Dany, both of them are always full of energy. I think halfway up the mountain, they had to help me up to the ledge.

Once we got to the ledge, the chief insisted on climbing over the top and scanning the area on the other side. He wanted to lay out a new plan for searching to us instead of aimlessly wandering around.

"I'll be back in the morning," the chief said before he left the ledge and continued to climb the mountain.

The rest of us set up camp on the inner side of the ledge. A few rangers volunteered to stay up to alert us of any incoming dragons. I still felt so embarrassed about having to be aided up the mountain as we set up our sleeping areas.

"I'm sorry about making you guys carry me," I whispered to LB and Dany. We were trying to make ourselves comfortable against the hard rocky surface that's going to be our bed for tonight.

"Learn to rely on people sometimes, will you?" Dany said sternly. "You're a part of the group, not a lone survivor."

"You're right, you're right…"

"Aaannddd," LB scooched closer to me and began massaging my aching shoulders. "You helped us every now and then. Why shouldn't we help you?"

I leaned back against LB for a second for comfort and sighed. Bad memories resurfaced. "I'm not fond of mountains, or cliffs, or any of the sort. The last time I was on a mountain, wind dragons came and… _yeah, yep_ …"

LB stopped massaging my shoulders and wrapped his arms around me. "But we're still here. And we're learning from our mistakes in the past."

"LB's got that right," Dany agreed. "Now let's sleep! The chief will be back in the morning, hopefully with good news!"

"I sure hope so!" LB lied on his back. "I want that spark we had when we finished our boat to return."

I also lied down on my back. The night sky was cloudy and no dragons were roaming around yet. It felt empty. We didn't have the same motivation we had back on the Eastern continent coast.

* * *

 _The next morning._

We waited patiently by the ledge as the ranger climbed back down from the top of the mountain. He shook his head. We couldn't believe it.

"The chief's not anywhere to be found," the ranger said.

"Did you check the other side of the mountain?" One of the survivors asked.

"Yeah, and as far as half a kilometre from the base of it," the ranger answered. "No blood, no body, no nothing. He just…vanished."

"He abandoned us?" Another survivor asked.

That triggered me. "I don't believe that," I suddenly said. "Sorry…I mean, well, we shouldn't spend too much time here waiting for the chief. The chief's job is to help the group survive, but he isn't the life force of the group. We can still move on, even without a chief. That's all I'm saying…if that makes sense to you all…"

"I get what you're saying, boy," the ranger said as he walked up to me. "You're right, we should head out. If the chief is still alive out there, there's a chance we might meet up with him again. Let's go!"

As soon as the ranger clapped his hands together, everyone began moving out. A few of them gave me looks that made my spine chill. Before climbing up the rest of the mountain, I moved closer to LB to get away from those looks.

But he had a similar look on his face. I felt the colour drain from my face seeing him look that way at me.

LB saw the shock on my face and decided to explain. "I didn't like how you talked about the chief back there."

"What…?" I said in a voice that was barely audible.

Next to me, Dany looked away, her expression seemed anxious and worried. But I could tell that she wasn't upset with me or anything. Not like LB.

LB huffed as he grabbed another rock above him to escalate himself. "The chief! He's not just the leader of this group, he's a person! We can't just leave him behind like that!"

I felt my pulse race in a way similar to when I'm escaping from a dragon. But there was no dragon around this time. I tried to say something, but nothing came out of my mouth. LB continued talking.

"I get it, ok? The world we live in is shitty, survival comes first above all else. But that's not living. If we don't live, we can't retake the world. The dragons may have some part in the way things are, but some of us are at fault too."

I suddenly stopped climbing. "Like me?"

Dany joined the conversation. "That's enough, you two! Save this for when we reach the ground again!" She climbed down towards me and pulled me upwards. "In order to live, we have to survive, and in order to survive, we have to stop yapping and keep climbing!"

"Yes, ma'am!" LB and I shouted in unison as we hurried behind the rest of the group. Dany sighed in relief.

It didn't take long for us to reach the top of the mountain and then begin the journey towards the ground. But during this trek, LB still kept some distance from me. I still felt hurt by his words from before and couldn't find the courage within me to say something to him.

Finally, we reached the ground and the rangers led the way, using what they remember from our chief's ambiguous location of the Safe-Zone. After a while of walking, we stopped to take a break.

I sat down on a log a few good metres from the rest of the group. I wanted some time alone. LB suddenly came up to me and sat down as well. He wrapped one arm around my shoulder. Instantly, I felt relieved.

"I'm sorry about back there. I'm just not as much as a survivor as you are," LB apologized. "I've lost many people too, but I haven't been _on my own_ on my own until Kurt and Volt—"

I hugged LB with all my might, making him gasp a little. "I'm sorry. I should be more sensitive from now on. It's just…your life is precious to me, and the best way to keep you alive is to find the Safe-Zone. I didn't think much about the chief at that moment. I'm sorry."

"We'll find the chief sooner or later," LB soothed. "I should be more understanding of your views too. Feel better?"

"Better."

* * *

 _One day later._

The rangers stopped us again after about two hours of walking since sunrise. They wanted to check whether or not we've been to this area before. Just to make sure we're not walking in circles.

Dany's feet were aching pretty badly so I took it upon myself to carry her on my back. And she didn't complain about needing help from me. I guess it was to set a good example that I can rely on others if I'm not capable of doing something by myself.

I hoisted her up a bit while we waited for the rangers to come back. Dany sighed in fatigue against my neck. "Tell me the truth. Do you still believe in the Safe-Zone?"

"Don't tell me that you stopped believing in it," I nudged.

"Tell that to the blisters on my feet!" She rose one leg up so I could see. There was a huge fat, ugly blister on the heel of her foot. I felt so bad.

LB took one glance at Dany's foot and went over to the main supplier. He returned with clean white cloths. "Here, let's wrap this around your foot. It'll stop dirty stuff from getting inside if the blisters pop."

Just as LB was finishing tying up the cloth around Dany's foot, everyone suddenly tensed. We all sniffed the air quietly and detected several unknown beings nearby. They didn't seem like dragons, but they aren't something we're familiar with either.

The few rangers that remained here with the group took out their weapons while the rest of us slowly got down on our knees, ready to either run forward or scramble up the nearest tree. The silence was so intense I swear I could hear everyone's heartbeats over my own!

One of the rangers decided to be the brave guy and moved forward towards the bush where he sensed one of the mysterious beings is hiding. Carefully timing his attack, the ranger threw his javelin and a scream was heard from the bush.

"Aaaaahhhhh! You motherfucker!"

And that's when the rest of them came out. Those mysterious beings weren't animals or aliens, but people like me. They dressed differently and carried much fancier looking weapons which quickly disarmed everyone else.

One of the members of the strangely dressed group of people held out a hand and the rest of the group instantly stopped attacking and jumped back. That same member walked up to the ranger who launched the first attack.

He removed the blue piece of cloth covering the lower half of his face. A healthy young man's face was revealed underneath.

"I'm sorry about the violence, but to be fair, you guys were the ones who started it. Well, more specifically, you were the one who threw the spear into my subordinate's arm…" The man explained in a cool voice.

Another man wearing the same strange outfit stepped out from the bush, he was tightly holding one of his bleeding arms. He glared at the ranger who threw the spear. "This was my combat arm! The arm I use to fight! To protect people like you!"

The ranger tched. "My bad, I thought you were something dangerous. We all did."

The man with the revealed face continued to speak. "I'm the leader of this unit of the warrior faction. We've been sent out to search for survival groups like you guys. To bring you the Safe-Zone."

The sun shone brighter than usual. _Did this man just say that he'll bring us to the Safe-Zone? So the Safe-Zone actually does exist…_

Everyone in the group began to chatter in excitement and shock. I felt my legs go numb and my lips curve upwards naturally. Dany helped herself off my back and gave me and LB a huge hug. We all laughed in happiness.

"What's going on here?" The rest of the rangers who went out to look around the area had returned and were surprised to see the new people of the warrior faction.

The leader of the warrior faction greeted them. "We're members of the Safe-Zone, allow us to take you there, in safety."

One of the rangers looked at us in surprise. He questioned one of the members of the group. "Is this true?"

The member nodded happily. "They said that they'll take us to the Safe-Zone! Think about it! We're all humans here! And the only place they could've come from in this dragon-inhabited continent is the Safe-Zone!"

"Captain?" Another man appeared from the bush wearing the same outfit as the warrior faction. Several more men and women of the same group appeared with him.

The leader—captain, of the faction, turned to face the new man. "We found the survival group, Ruth. Call up the chief, let him take a look. Here, sir. See if they truly are the group you were telling us about."

"Let me see."

That voice. That was a voice we all recognized. The captain of the warriors moved to the side to let the person whose voice we just heard, walk through.

It was the chief. He smiled in relief as he gazed upon us.

"It's them. Thank you, captain."

"Chief!" We all cried in unison.

"You're still alive!"

"Where have you been?"

"I thought you left us!"

"We're really going to make it to the Safe-Zone!"

I put an arm around LB and smiled up at the sky. "You were right, LB. You were right all along—"

 _Flash!_

A bright flash of light engulfed all of us for a second. As soon as it was over, I found myself face to face with a large green dragon. It was long and slender like a snake but had plates of armour on its back and neck.

It opened its mouth to release some heat and steam. Its body was burning like a fire for some reason, even though it didn't look like a fire-type dragon!

We were all in the shadow of it. I couldn't believe it. How on did this dragon appear before us so suddenly!?

Immediately, our survival instincts kicked gear and we began running away from the dragon. The captain shouted for the warriors as he ran with us. A few of them threw their fancy spears and javelins at the dragon, but it didn't seem to deal much damage, only make it more aware of our presence.

"Warrior faction!" The captain cried. "Divide into two! Half of you stay with me and deal with that menace, the other half help the survival group to the Safe-Zone! Ruth, you stay and lead the other half!"

"Got it, sir!" Ruth nodded and took the captain's place. Looking to his side, he saw me and LB struggle to help Dany run with her blistered feet. Ruth quickly picked her up and ran ahead a little.

"The Safe-Zone is not too far ahead! You guys made it this far, this is the last stretch!"

 _The last stretch. The last leg of our journey!_ _I will not die here! And neither will anyone from this group!_ We ran faster than we ever did before. From behind us, the warriors fought the green dragon with their weapons and…they were flying?

I turned my head around only a second to see the dragon one more time and saw several of the warriors leaping through the air and piercing the dragon in its tender parts with their blades and arrows.

Then, they quickly jumped out of the way before the dragon was able to catch them with its hands. I was in awe. This was the first time I ever saw humans fight a dragon.

Ordinary humans! Well, not ordinary humans, but still humans!

They seemed to be slowing the dragon down a lot, but eventually, that dragon caught sight of my group leaving the area and its eyes narrowed. I did not like that and quickly turned my head back around.

Letting out a screeching roar, the dragon shook off the warriors that were trying to pierce into more parts of its body before slithering at breakneck speed towards the survival group. I was screaming and shouting as I ran.

I probably sounded like a lunatic as I grabbed LB's arm and ran to the front of the group where Ruth was leading the way. I did not want to die today. I was so scared. The dragon was equivalent to death. And it was chasing me…

A few of the warriors accompanying us stopped running to face the dragon themselves. They leapt onto the dragon's head with ease and tried to stab it in its eyes. But the dragon secreted a wet substance that made them slip off and land on the ground.

Without mercy, the dragon crushed two of the warriors underneath its hands. I let out a high-pitched shrill as I recognized the sound of bones and meat and organs being destroyed in a single blow.

"We're going to make it, we're going to make it, we're going to make!" LB and I shouted as tears streamed down our faces.

"Will you two shut up!?" Dany cried from Ruth's arms. She looked terrified as well. "Of course we'll make it!"

A gleam shone in Ruth's eyes. He suddenly handed Dany down to me. "Here, kid! Just run ahead until you reach that tree!"

He pointed to a large tree with green and yellow leaves. If we were a little further from it, I would not have been able to see the difference between that tree and the rest of the trees in this forest. I nodded as Dany held onto me tightly and LB held onto my tunic.

Ruth turned around and waited for the green dragon to come up to him. Just as the dragon was a few metres in front of him, Ruth shot an arrow into the dragon's eye and jumped out the way.

The dragon cried in agony. As soon as that arrow was shot, Ruth and several other warriors, in perfect coordination, leapt from tree to tree and across the dragon from different angles. A long rope trailing behind them.

Before long, the dragon was tied up and secured. The captain appeared from behind it, bloodied and panting. He walked up towards the struggling dragon with a large dagger.

"Time to cut you open, dragon summoner! And see how ugly you truly are!"

 _Flash!_

Just as my group and I reached the tree, another bright flash of light engulfed us. This time, it lasted a few seconds longer. We were all blinded by the blinding white light.

As soon as it faded away, we could see well again. I turned around to see whether or not Ruth was still ok. And I gasped.

That green dragon who was just attacking us, lied lifeless on the ground, surrounded by warriors. It looked just like…the dragon bodies we encountered at the abandoned village of dragon summoners.

 _So that dragon…was the work of a real dragon summoner?_

The captain shook with frustration and put his dagger away before making his way towards us. "That summoner got lucky this time! Next time, we'll be quicker in cutting them out!"

The surviving warriors gathered around us, making sure that we had everyone from before. Which we did. But I can't say the same to the warrior faction. In just one dragon encounter, they lost almost half of their group.

I immediately sympathized with them.

The captain blew a low whistle. "Good, we're all still here. Alright now, before we enter the Safe-Zone, let me just warn you ahead of time. The place we're about to enter, is something you've never seen before. So please, don't be scared. Don't freak out, ok? Trust us."

I didn't understand what the captain was saying. The entire area around us was still forest. Nothing seemed odd or out of the ordinary. So where was the Safe-Zone? Don't tell me that it's…underground?

But I just finished the last segment of my journey to find the Safe-Zone. A journey that I've wanted to end ever since a year ago on the Eastern continent. So I willingly gave the warrior faction my trust.

And so did everyone else in my group.

The captain saw the determination in our eyes. He nodded before squeezing his eyes shut and taking out a necklace with a blue pearl around the end of it. He held it up to the sky.

"Never forget," the captain said in a clear voice as he continued to hold up the blue pearl.

Suddenly, the entire world around us started to warp and shift. It felt like the ground was disappearing beneath my feet! I did my best to keep my eyes open throughout the entire process, but I could barely see anything!

All I felt was the three of us squeezing together in fear as the forest disappeared and morphed into something else. I clenched my teeth tightly as I wait for this to be over.

"It's over, everyone," the captain said before long.

I took a good look around me. We were in a place that looked just like our world, but it didn't look like the forest we were just in. No, this place was a huge grassland with a few trees here and there.

The sun shone in the cloudless sky and in the distance in front of me, I could see a giant stony building and loud ruckus going on.

Dany slowly got down from my arms and LB and I held her as we looked left and right. The place seemed to just stretch on forever. We turned around and saw that the grassland continued to stretch towards the horizon.

"The reason the Safe-Zone is 'safe' is that it's a place where the dragons can't find," the captain. "And unfortunately, humans can't find either. Without our help of course."

"I get that, b—but," I stuttered. "What is it?"

"It's a portal to an invisible world in this world," the captain explained. "In the forest, you would've passed right through the Safe-Zone without knowing, but thanks to me, you've gained access. To the land of no dragons."

"The land of no dragons…" I fell to my knees crying. "Mom, can you see me now? I'm still alive."

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